The Indian cricketers sported black armbands when they took the field on Day 3 of the third Test against England in Rajkot.
This gesture was to pay tribute to former India Test cricketer Dattajirao Gaekwad, who passed away on February 13 in his hometown Baroda at the age of 95.
Gaekwad held the record of being the oldest-living Test cricketer in the country. He played 11 Tests for India and led in 4 of them in a career that spanned 9 years.
Despite the respect shown by the Indian players, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was left livid as it took the team management three days into the Test match to realise it.
The third Test got underway on February 15, two days after Gaekwad’s demise. However, there was no armband on the Indian cricketers' jerseys on Day 1 and Day 2 of the Rajkot Test.
Ahead of the start of play on Day 3, the BCCI announced that Rohit Sharma and his men will wear black armbands in the memory of Dattajirao Gaekwad.
"Better late than never... they should've done it on Day 1 but better late than never," Gavaskar said on-air as the Indian players took the field.
"He was captain of the Indian team in a five-match series. He captained four out of the five matches and the other one was captained by Pankaj Roy," he added.
Earlier, the BCCI had mourned the death of Dattajirao Gaekwad and also paid tribute to him with a heartfelt social media post.
“The BCCI expresses its profound grief at the passing away of Dattajirao Gaekwad, former India captain and India’s oldest Test cricketer. He played in 11 Tests and led the team during India’s Tour of England in 1959. Under his captaincy, Baroda also won the Ranji Trophy in the 1957-58 season, beating Services in the final. The Board expresses its heartfelt condolences to Gaekwad's family, friends, and admirers,” the board tweeted on February 13.
Dattajirao Gaekwad was the father of former India opener Anshuman Gaekwad, who played 40 Tests and 15 ODIs between 1975 and 1987.
Dattajirao scored 350 runs in his 11 Tests, including a half-century. He was a prolific run-getter in first-class cricket for Baroda, amassing 5788 runs in 110 matches with 17 hundreds and 23 fifties. His highest score was 249 not out in first-class cricket.
