Anshuman Dattajirao Gaekwad (23 September 1952 – 31 July 2024) was an Indian cricketer and two-time Indian national cricket coach. In a career spanning over a decade, he played 40 Test matches and 15 One Day Internationals between 1974 and 1984. His father, Datta Gaekwad was also an Indian test cricketer. Gaekwad was the coach of the Indian team that finished joint-winners at the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy.

Gaekwad was a recipient of the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, Indian cricket's highest honour, in 2018.

Early life

Gaekwad was born on 23 September 1952 in Bombay (present day Mumbai) in the Indian state of Maharashtra, to Ushadevi and Datta Gaekwad, an Indian cricketer, who played 11 tests in the 1950s. The senior Gaekwad held the title of the oldest living Indian test cricketer before his death in February 2024. Gaekwad was also related to the Gaekwad royal family in Gujarat.

He studied at the Maharani Chimnabai High School and later at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda. During this time, he played for Baroda and West Zone in the Indian domestic cricket circuit. He continued to play in the domestic circuit playing his last game for West Zone against North Zone in 1987, a game in which he scored a double century.

Gaekwad was nicknamed The Great Wall and was known for his defensive play, particularly against the fast bowlers led by the West Indian pace bowlers who dominated world cricket at the time. Recounting a strike on his face and his ear in the 1976 test against West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica by the West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding, who was nicknamed Whispering Death, Gaekwad recalled, "My glasses flew all over the place and there was blood all around." Gaekwad had to undergo two surgeries and was left with hearing damage.

Personal life and death

Gaekwad was married to Jyoti Gaekwad, a painter. The couple had two sons, Annirudha and Shatrunjay Gaekwad, both of whom were cricketers, with the latter having represented Baroda in Ranji trophy.

Gaekwad died from leukemia, a type of blood cancer, in Vadodara on 31 July 2024, at the age of 71. Gaekwad had been suffering from cancer for a while and had even sought treatment at Kings College Hospital, London. The BCCI and his fellow India teammates had come forward to provide financial help for his treatment after an appeal from the likes of Kapil Dev.

Books

References

  • Dubai Cricket Council