Indian hospitality is legendary. And when it is extended to legends, it reaches new heights. When cricket's greatest event came to the sub-continent in 1987, the organisers thought of extending an invitation to the greatest cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman himself.The cricketing diplomat NKP Salve was entrusted the task of wooing Sir Don to India. Salve took a trip to the cricketing shrine in Adelaide, with the hope of hosting the master batsman. As luck would have it, Lady Bradman was not in the best of health and the legend turned down the invitation gracefully. Salve even promised a 24-hour personal doctor for the aging couple from the time they left their home but Bradman's strong defence failed to fall. Had the visit materialised, it would have been the first World Cup match which the Don would have seen live.Sir Richard Hadlee, too, turned his back to the Reliance Cup of 1987. Hadlee was a few wickets away from Kapil Dev's Test record and so motivation to play One-dayers was evidently lacking. He gave a long list of reasons for his decision not to play. Injury, wife's illness, wrong scheduling of the World Cup and ``I want a break'' were the ones that fell in the usual excuses category. But the one that took the cake was "What's a World Cup without Ian Botham, David Gower, Malcolm Marshall, Gordon Greenidge, Joel Garner . (all had skipped the event).''A straight from the heart advice by a leading Australian cardiologist to his patients before the 1992 England-Pakistan final was - stay away from cricket. And the World Cup case history showed that the doctor had gauged the pulse right. During the pulsating New Zealand-Pakistan semi-final when Salim Malik departed to the pavilion, so did an agonised soul of a Pakistani fan. The faint-hearted supporter missed out on Inzaman-ul-Haq's heroics and an eventual Pakistan win. Compiled by Tushar Trivedi, Sandeep Dwivedi
