Anshuman Gaekwad passes away after prolonged battle with blood cancer

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Anshuman Gaekwad, former India cricketer and coach, died at 71 after a prolonged battle with blood cancer on Wednesday, July 31. He represented India in 40 Tests and 15 ODI matches between 1974 to 1987.

Gaekwad, who was was in London till last, month died in Baroda after a brief time in the ICU due to various health complications.

He was also the coach of the Indian team that finished runners-up at the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy. Gaekwad also played 206 first-class matches in a career spanning 22 years, and scored over 12,000 runs.

He took over as coach of the Indian team in 1997 for the first time and later came back in the middle of the match-fixing saga, after Kapil Dev's resignation. His glorious moments came at Sharjah in 1998 and in a Test match at Ferozeshah Kotla when Anil Kumble took all 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan in 1999.

As a batter, the right-hander scored 1985 runs including two hundreds and 10 fifties from 70 Test innings, with a highest score of 201 against Pakistan in 1982-83. He batted for 671 minutes during the innings.

Earlier this month, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had instructed the board to release Rs 1 crore immediately to provide financial assistance for Anshuman Gaekwad.

“The board stands by Gaekwad’s family in this hour of crisis and will do whatever is essential for Mr Gaekwad’s quick recovery. The BCCI will continue to monitor Mr Gaekwad’s progress and is confident that he will come out of this phase strongly,” the BCCI Apex Council said in a statement.

The deteriorating health condition of Gaekwad was brought into notice by his former teammate Sandeep Patil, who visited him while he was admitted in a London hospital. He requested the BCCI to come forward and help Anshuman Gaekwad.

“The BCCI has walked the talk with this humungous cash reward. It’s unprecedented but not undeserving from the players point of view. A Board can have money power and yet not share the pie with its players. Here, BCCI is putting out the best spread for the people who have made their country so very proud," Sandeep Patil wrote in a column for Mid-Day shortly after the BCCI announced a cash prize of Rs 125 crore for Rohit Sharma-led Indian contingent which won the T20 World Cup 2024.

“I visited London in May for a function and happened to catch up with my former India and West Zone teammate Aunshuman Gaekwad. He was in hospital fighting blood cancer. Anshu told me that he needs funds for his treatment. Soon, Dilip Vengsarkar and me spoke to BCCI treasurer Ashish Shelar. In fact, our calls were made to Ashish Shelar after seeing Anshu at King’s College Hospital in London,” he wrote further.

The WhatsApp group of India's 1983 World Cup-winning squad was also abuzz from the last few months to find ways to generate funds for Anshuman Gaekwad. The likes of Sandeep Patil, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Sachin Tendulkar had requested BCCI secretary Jay Shah and treasurer Ashish Shelar to step forward and help the former India coach.

As per The Telegraph, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri and Kirti Azad have been trying to generate support from corporate honchos and friends.