England vs India, Oval Test: Team India sports black armbands, pay tribute to Vasu Paranjpe

The
Indian
cricketers
sported
the
black
armbands
as
a
mark
of
respect
to
well-known
cricketer
and
coach
Vasu
Paranjpe,
who
passed
away
earlier
this
week
in
Mumbai.

“The
Indian
Cricket
Team
is
sporting
black
armbands
today
to
honour
the
demise
of
Shri
Vasudev
Paranjpe
#TeamIndia,”
the
BCCI
tweeted
along
with
a
picture
of
the
Indian
team
wearing
the
black-arm
bands.

Paranjpe,
82,
died
at
his
residence
in
Matunga
in
Mumbai
on
August
30
and
is
survived
by
his
wife
and
son
Jatin,
who
is
an
ex-national
selector
and
India
player.
The
cricket
board
had
also
earlier
expressed
its
grief
on
Paranjape’s
demise.

The
entire
Indian
cricketing
fraternity
had
paid
rich
tributes
to
Paranjpe,
who
had
served
the
game
in
various
capacities.

“The
Mumbai
Cricket
Association
expresses
profound
grief
on
hearing
about
the
sad
demise
of
Shri
Vasudeo
Paranjape
who
passed
away
on
30th
August
2021.
On
behalf
of
the
Apex
Council
members
of
MCA,
all
the
member
clubs
as
also
the
cricketing
fraternity
we
condole
his
demise,”
secretary
Sanjay
Naik
and
joint
secretary
Shahalam
Shaikh
stated
in
the
note.

Former
India
captain
Sunil
Gavaskar
and
Sachin
Tendulkar
paid
homage
to
the
departed
soul.
In
his
six-decade
association
with
Indian
cricket
and
especially
Mumbai
cricket,
Paranjape
has
donned
many
roles
–
that
of
a
coach,
selector,
mentor
and
a
sounding
board
for
anyone
who
needed
advice
on
cricket
and
beyond.

No
one
knew
Mumbai
cricket’s
pulse
like
‘Vasu
sir’,
who
perhaps
would
always
be
remembered
for
Gavaskar’s
global
nickname
“Sunny”.
785
runs
in
29
first-class
games
with
two
hundreds
isn’t
the
greatest
piece
of
cricketing
statistics
but
what
made
Paranjape
stand
apart
was
his
astute
knowledge
of
the
game
and
being
able
to
work
on
the
mindset
of
players
—
especially
in
their
formative
years.

He
could
speak
four
languages
fluently–
Hindi,
English,
Marathi
and
Gujarati.
He
was
the
captain
of
a
very
strong
Dadar
Union
side
that
boasted
of
names
like
Sunil
Gavaskar,
Dilip
Vengsarkar
along
with
club
legends
like
Vithal
‘Marshal’ Patil.

Paranjape
was
entrusted
by
late
Raj
Singh
Dungarpur
to
oversee
the
Indian
team’s
preparatory
camp
in
Mumbai
(Bombay
back
then)
before
the
1987
World
Cup
and
had
also
assisted
legendary
Dennis
Lillee
during
formative
years
of
MRF
Pace
Foundation.

(With
PTI
inputs)