Playing on another field

He wanted to live his dreams. Cricket and fame formed the major part of his life but he never lost touch with ground realities. Cricket was important. Money was important. And then managing both became his priorities in life. For Kapil Dev, the journey continues. Only, cricket has conceded ground to golf and his relentless pursuit to expand business.

The suave Kapil, a master entertainer on the cricket field and debonair off it, is a busy man these days. Probably busier than in his playing days when he endorsed a shaving cream and promoted it in a most rustic tone. Not anymore. He goes around giving motivational lectures once a week. “I never thought I would someday address business management students and executives and make money from it. My job was to take wickets and make runs and not give lectures. It has been a pleasant experience,” he says.

Kapil was still playing when something made him sit up and plan his future. At the Cricket Club of India, he saw a former India captain wait outside the room of the Board secretary to collect his allowances. “The cricketer stood there for a long while and the Board secretary too took his own time. It was depressing. I dreaded being in a situation like that,” he says, proudly pointing out that he has never taken pension from the Board.

He had the acumen to make some business deals even as he was moving towards life outside cricket. Sanjay Dalmiya, chairman of the Dalmia group of Companies, helped by sponsoring six players at Kapil's behest. “That was the beginning actually,” Kapil recalled.

Somewhere around 1985, Kapil launched Dev Features, a syndicated agency. “I was not serious but realised there was merit in investing in this business of selling columns. The first deal was attractive and it worked.” Television was not big in those days and Dev Features did well to sell sports as news. “The intent was to produce some quality stuff and we succeeded to a large extent. But I missed the bus when it came to acquiring the television rights for cricket in India. I was still playing and did not have the experience. At that stage playing cricket was important for me.”

Kapil was willing to wait. Hailing from a family that indulged in the timber business, Kapil made rapid progress. Business in coal also gave Kapil some footing but then he got “cheated” and was brought down to earth. “I trusted my partner. Just as you do in cricket. What do you do if your partner works to run you out? The same happened here. I was run out by my partner in business,” he says.

Kapil took time to recover but he did. “I bought an office of my own (in Delhi's central Bengali Market area) after having worked from my home. Business grew and I took the decision to venture into something more.”

On a trip to the US, Kapil came across floodlit grounds at school and colleges. “It was an eye opener really. Kids playing under floodlights. It was fascinating. It made me dream of setting up a similar infrastructure.”

Kapil formed Dev Musco in 1994 and entered the floodlighting business. In collaboration with an American firm, he did his best to understand the subject. “I studied the Lux technology,” Kapil says, with his trademark toothy grin. Dev Musco began with providing floodlights at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. “It was a challenge and we did it. It remains our benchmark. Only 11 bulbs have gone bad in 14 years,” he says.

Dev Musco went on to provide floodlights in football, hockey and golf but Kapil wants to go beyond the normal. “I want to see schools and colleges and clubs having floodlit grounds,” he says.

Of late, Kapil has begun investing in the property business. His latest acquisition is a complex in Noida. “I had always dreamt of owning a huge building. I have it now. I have always believed that your workplace is as important as your home.”

Kapil maintains his passion continues to be sport and not business. “Basically I am a cricketer and would like to be known as one. I am not a businessman. Whatever I am is because of cricket. Avenues in business open up because of my cricket deeds. I do business, I give lectures, but I still depend on cricket and I am absolutely proud of it.”

The former India captain, who won India the World Cup in 1983, has a message for the youth. “We are a great nation and growing as an economic giant. We have changed as a nation and are progressing. To me, education and health is most important. Also paramount is paying your taxes.”

Kapil the cricketer is a doting father and a caring husband. Who manages his house? “Of course, Romi.” And money? He laughs, “I have people to manage it.”

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