Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar loved watching cricket, says former cricketer Madan Lal, who was part of the 1983 World Cup winning Indian team. “Lata ji is no longer with us, but her memories will always be there. She was very fond of the game, and we’ve lost Indian cricket’s biggest fan. She loved following the game and whenever India won a match, she would always express her happiness,” he says.

Lal recalls how the late singer agreed to do the Freedom Concert to help the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) raise reward money to honour the (cricketer) Kapil Dev-led team that beat West Indies in the finals of the 1983 World Cup. “I met her at someone’s place in London during the World Cup. That’s when I realised that she had a great understanding of the sport. The next time I met her was during the concert. We were so grateful to her for her gesture. We all got ₹1 lakh because of her,” says the 70-year-old.

Going back to the concert time, Lal recalls that she was an absolute professional: “She was a perfectionist. She rehearsed for two days and made us all rehearse many times before the concert.”