Bridgetown (Barbados), Sep 28: Legendary former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd has paid special tribute to late BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, lauding him as someone who had "a deep passion" for the sport.

The 71-year-old Lloyd described Dalmiya as someone who "loved cricket" and gave all he could "for the good of the game," reports CMC.

"He did a lot for Indian cricket and world cricket. He was a very strong person and we got along very well," said Lloyd on Sunday, the current chairman of the West Indies selectors.

"He was very well respected and rose to the highest office in world cricket. He gave immense service to the game and brought it to where it is today. He was a very likeable person and it is indeed sad that he has passed on."

"We have lost a great administrator and a true family man, and someone who loved the great game of cricket," he added.

Dalmiya was a former president of cricket's world governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), and was serving as head of the Board for Cricket Control of India (BCCI) at the time of his death on September 20 in Kolkata.

The 75-year-old has also been credited for transforming India cricket into financial giants but Lloyd said there was much more to Dalmiya's legacy.

"One of his strengths was that he helped the game to reach a strong financial footing, and a lot of people talk about that aspect of his administration, but there was much more to him that just that," Lloyd pointed out.

"He did so successfully, but he also brought great respect to the game and its players all across the world. He was very well respected everywhere he went because he put the game first and everyone could see he cared about cricket and had a deep passion for what was happening on an off the field."

Lloyd said Dalmiya had always put the sport above his own self interests.

"His forte was that he thought about the game and not about himself and that's the way it should always be - cricket first and everything else after," Lloyd asserted.

"You must love the game and he certainly loved cricket and we as cricket people all over the world owe him a lot for what he has done for the game."

IANS