The Indian cricket team has taken the field wearing black armbands in the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Friday to honour the memory of former player and coach Anshuman Gaekwad, who died after a prolonged battle with blood cancer.

Gaekwad lost his lengthy battle against blood cancer on Wednesday. He was 71.

“Team India is wearing black armbands today in memory of former Indian cricketer and coach Aunshuman Gaekwad, who passed away on Wednesday,” the BCCI said in a statement.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had said that he was fortunate to have conversations with Gaekwad on many occasions.

“I was absolutely devastated to hear that news. I was lucky to have a few conversations with him during the BCCI awards, and on a personal note as well.

“When I was playing Ranji Trophy, he was there and he had a few things to talk about my game as well, which was overwhelming for me because he was such a great cricketer for us," had said Rohit on Thursday.

The T20 World Cup-winning skipper said it is always a good experience to learn from the seniors.

“It's always nice when you learn from your seniors, understand how cricket was played back in the day, how tough it was and then to pass on his experiences on cricket and what his visions are about cricket. For me to understand that was a great learning at that point,” he added.

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