Hello, there’s terrible news!

The antics of some of the Pakistani cricketers in their Asia Cup game against India last Sunday was nothing short of boorish Itrsquos a crying shame that the noblest game thatrsquos what celebrated writers Neville Cardus and John Arlott titled their 1969 book on rare cricket prints has been reduced to such lows with the offenders being blaseacute about their actionsIt was sad a few days earlier too when Sri Lanka spinner Dunith Wellalage was informed after the match against Afghanistan that his 54yearold father had passed away in Colombo Suddenly the five consecutive sixes that Afghanistan veteran Mohammad Nabi hit Wellalage Jr for paled into an insignificant heartbreak The Sri Lankan spinner returned home for his fatherrsquos funeral and reunited with his teammates for the match against BangladeshIndia pace bowler Mohammed Siraj who stayed on in Australia despite his father passing away during the 202021 tour of Australia PICAFPWellalage thus joined a list of cricket personalities to hear about personal losses while on tour Probably the most famous instance is of Sachin Tendulkar learning of his father Rameshrsquos death during the 1999 World Cup in England on the eve of Indiarsquos May 19 match against Zimbabwe Many of us wondered how Tendulkar was delivered the crushing news in Leicester He revealed it all in his 2014 autobiography Playing It My Way in which he said his wife Anjali who was in London drove down on the night of May 18 to give the news to her husband who was already battling a back injuryTendulkar famously returned from Mumbai and scored a century against the Kenyans in Bristol Tendulkarrsquos captain in the 1999 World Cup Mohammed Azharuddin was waiting to go into bat for India for U25 against the visiting 198485 England team at Ahmedabad when his captain Ravi Shastri received a telegram addressed to his junior batsmanAccomplished commentator and writer Harsha Bhogle thus described the moment in the book Azhar ndash The Authorised Biography of Mohammed Azharuddin ldquoShastri opened the telegram read the contents and was preparing to put it in his pocket when he was stopped by Azhar He had seen the name on the telegram Left with no option Shastri handed it to him The telegram said in the rather terse manner of all telegrams lsquoGrandfather serious Start immediatelyrsquo Azhar padded up and ready to bat got up and told Shastri lsquoIrsquom going I have to gorsquoMohammed Azharuddin at the Sydney Cricket Ground during his debut season for IndiaInitially a little taken aback at the prospect of losing his No 3 batsman Shastri recovered lsquoHang onrsquo he said lsquoYoursquore batting next Irsquom not letting you change your number You are No 3 and you will bat No 3rsquo rdquo Azharuddin was very close to his grandfather who had already passed away when the telegram arrived in the Ahmedabad dressing room but the news was kept away from him He scored a hundred and got included in Indiarsquos squad for the opening Test at Mumbai He made his Test debut in the third match of the series and went on to carve centuries in his first three Tests Leave alone the hattrick of tons but would Azharuddin have been included in the India squad had he returned to Hyderabad and not scored a hundred in Ahmedabad Anyonersquos guessAnother Hyderabad player mdash fast bowler Mohammed Siraj mdash lost his father an autorickshaw driver while he was in Australia setting up Indiarsquos historic 21 series win there in 202021 The world was gripped by the pandemic and Siraj didnrsquot have the physical comfort of having his friends with him to help him deal with his grief in nonplaying nontraining hours Telephone calls from Indiarsquos then fielding coach R Sridhar also from Hyderabad and his fianceacute were more than merely helpfulEngland batsman Colin Cowdrey in the 1960sHead coach Shastri proved critical too Siraj said on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Season 2 podcast ldquoI went to training the next day after my fatherrsquos demise and Ravi Shastri told me that I have my dadrsquos blessing and I will take a fivewicket haul When I took five wickets at Brisbane he told me lsquoLook what did I tell you that you will take five wicketsrsquordquoOn arrival in Hyderabad Siraj headed straight to the cemetery where his father was buried Colin Cowdrey the great England batsmen of the 1950s 1960s and 1970s too lost his father while on a tour to Australia He was picked for the 195455 Ashes as a 21yearold and got the news of his fatherrsquos death when the team arrived in Perth A warning of his fatherrsquos dire health condition was delivered the day before their ship reached Perth after a pretour game in Colombo Sri Lanka Cowdrey who scored an unbeaten 66 there revealed in MCC mdash The Autobiography of a Cricketer that he received a message from home that read ldquoCongratulations on your Colombo innings Happy landings tomorrow Regret father not too well All at homerdquoThe following day a telegraph sent to him said his father was no more Going back home to attend the funeral was out of the question for Cowdrey and he played the entire Test series to score 319 runs including a century in the Melbourne Test Journalist Rajan Bala lost his mother while covering Indiarsquos tour of Pakistan in 1984 On hearing the sad news in Faisalabad a shattered Bala wanted to leave for India in the middle of the night No one could stop him but one man did mdash Lala Amarnath who was in Pakistan as a commentator Bala stayed on but the tour got abandoned a few days later due to the assassination of Indiarsquos then Prime Minister Indira GandhiDebasish Datta another welltravelled journalist was covering the 1990 India vs England Test at Lordrsquos when his younger brother met with a ghastly road accident and succumbed Breaking the sad news to Debasish was going to be a challenge His fellow journalists approached Sunil Gavaskar who was on commentary duty for the tour As soon as Debasish saw Gavaskar and a few journalists at the door of his hotel room he knew that his brother was no more He left for Kolkata to be with his grieving parents and returned in time for the second Test at Manchester Wellalage meanwhile is trying to cope with the hit that will as the television commentators often say stay hit