Sandeep Patil: Never imagined our fittest mate will leave us like this

It has been more than 12 hours since Kirti Azad called me on Tuesday morning to deliver the news of Yashpal Sharmarsquos death but I still canrsquot get around the fact that Yash is no moreThat a guy who did not smoke didnrsquot touch a hard drink didnrsquot even consume nonvegetarian food can succumb to a cardiac arrest is unbelievable reallyEach and every member of the 1983 World Cup team including our manager PR Man Singh is in shock We are sharing our grief on the World Cup 1983 WhatsApp group and Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri are in touch with us from EnglandI have been known as a joketeller all my cricketing life Yashpal and I shared many jokes across 47 years of our relationship yes right from our University cricket days but the fact that life is no joke has been reinforced through his passing Friends donrsquot urge me to tell any more jokes I wonrsquot and I donrsquot think I can in the futureYashpal Sharma PicAFPJust the other day we the members of the 1983 World Cup team met in Delhi We joked we reminisced pulled each otherrsquos leg Little did we imagine that our fittest teammate would say goodbye to us like this ldquoWe should be fit like Yashrdquo some of us said to each other Two days back I sent him an image of my 300th canvas painting and he said ldquoKeep going Sandyrdquo Indeed Yashrsquos death paints a picture of gloom for all of his friends and teammatesAlso Read Yashpal the batsman who gave Windies their first shock in World Cup cricketGrit and determination was at the heart of his cricket He gave nothing away didnrsquot leave anything that he could offer when he left the dressing room Yashrsquos batting style may have not made for a pleasant sight from the stands or dressing room But he was khadoos and played to the needs of the team Yash was no easy picking for any bowlerI was not in the team for both his Test hundreds v Australia in Delhi in 197980 and v England at Madras in 198182 but I saw his vital knocks in the 1983 World Cupmdash89 against West Indies and 61 against England in the semifnals both at Manchester And letrsquos not forget he topscored with 40 in our Chelmsford match against Australia who we beat by 118 runsI remember we were rival captains in his last Ranji Trophy game in the 199293 season I was leading Madhya Pradesh while he was captaining Railways at Delhi We earned more points in that game but I donrsquot remember Yash giving us an easy timeIt isnrsquot going to be easy now too Rest well Yash palAlso Read RIP Rajendrasinh Jadeja Both sides of a sideAs told to Clayton Murzello