Anshuman Gaekwad, a former Indian cricketer died on Wednesday at the age of 71 after a long battle with cancer.
Gaekwad who played for India in forty test matches and 15 ODIs had been undergoing treatment for blood cancer at the King’s College Hospital in London before coming back to India last month, PTI reported.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) offered Rs 1 crore towards his treatment. Others included some members from the team that won the World Cup in 1983.
He has played 205 first-class games spanning 22 years in which he also coached international cricket team of India and achieved some success with them. His tenure as coach ended with India reaching the final match of the ICC Champions Trophy held in England during September-October, 2000.
As a coach, Gaekwad’s was victorious away from home where his side overcame Pakistan at Sharjah in May,1998 and at Ferozeshah Kotla later that year when Anil Kumble bowled out all ten batsmen in one inning; two feats were particularly remarkable as they are very rare occurrences.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the earliest to offer condolences.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has also paid tribute to him.
An opening batsman, known for his dogged defense and high back lift. He shared this responsibility with Chetan Chauhan between the periods of 1974-1984 while vying for Sunil Gavaskar’s opening partner position which made him face intense competition during this period.
Respected for his gentle nature, he famously compiled over two hundred runs against Imran Khan’s Pakistan at Jalandhar – one of slowest double hundreds ever witnessed during those days.
Shades-wearing opener made his name during the series of 1976 held at Sabina Park in Jamaica against the likes of young Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel. It occurred at Sabina Park, Kingston, where Holding bowled a beamer that struck him on the ear and bled while locals called for his death from tree tops with chants such as “Kill him, Man.… Kill him Mikey”- Gavaskar described it inhuman.
Gaekwad coached India between 1998 and 1999 when Anil Kumble took all ten wickets of Pakistan in an innings at Kotla. Harbhajan Singh debuted during this period under Gaekwad’s tutelage, and says he always respected his coach for being a classy figure.
He was also a national selector, headed Baroda Cricket Association and was on the BCCI Apex Council representing ICA until he fell ill.
The Indian greats such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri were joined by West Indian legend Clive Lloyd and fast bowling duo Andy Roberts together with Farokh Engineer and Dilip Vengsarkar to name but few; also former BCCI president Roger Binny, Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil, Karsan Ghavri, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and actor Nana Patekar tried to motivate Anshu in his last days.
