Who is Uncle Percy Abeysekera? Iconic Sri Lankan fan whom Virat Kohli once invited to Indian dressing room

Percy Abeysekera, an iconic supporter of the Sri Lankan cricket team, passed away after a battle with prolonged illness in Colombo on Monday. The 87-year-old fan, who was fondly called as Uncle Percy, was a constant presence on cricket grounds across the world where his country played.

Abeysekera, known for his colourful dressing, began his travels to cheer for the Lankan cricket team from the 1979 World Cup and since then he attended all major cricketing events except the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 owing to poor health.

Who is Uncle Percy?

His friendship with leading Lankan cricketers like Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara made him an unavoidable figure in the country's cricketing landscape.

Uncle Percy also shared cordial relationships with Indian cricketers like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Rohit had visited Abeysekera at his home in Colombo during the recent Asia Cup. Virat Kohli had invited Abeysekera to the Indian dressing room for a short interaction during the tour to Sri Lanka in 2015.

However, Abeysekera's health was not at its best over the last year and the Sri Lanka Cricket had recently given him LKR 5 million to meet his medical expenses. Players all around the globe paid rich tribute to the Sri Lankan fan through social media posts. We take a look at some of the tweets below.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka were staring at an embarrassing defeat at the ICC World Cup 2023 on the day of Uncle Percy's death as Afghanistan were fast chasing down a target of 241 at the MCA International Stadium in Pune.

Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi made a huge statement by unleashing his full fury to grab four wickets as underwhelming Sri Lanka batters struggled to a below-par 241 all out on an easy-paced pitch.

While left-armer Farooqi's (4/34) fiery pace made life difficult for the rivals, Afghanistan spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2/38) and Rashid Khan (1/50) showed the right intent and energy to create pressure and restrict in-form batters like Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama.

After being asked to bat first, Sri Lankan batting never got going as Farooqi, Mujeeb and Rashid, who is playing his 100th ODI, bowled tight lengths and varied pace despite them getting little assistance from the MCA Stadium surface that played true through the 50 overs.

With inputs from PTI