Long before the Bhaichung Bhutias and the Sunil Chhetris became stars, it was the trio of Pradip Kumar Banerjee or simply ‘PK’, Chuni Goswami and Tulsidas Balaram who dazzled in India’s football sky.

Goswami, 82, is unwell and his family didn’t dare to give him the news of Banerjee’s passing away on Friday. Balaram, however, fondly remembered his former teammate on a sad day.

“A few months before the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, we were playing a match against Burma (Myanmar), and India were a goal down. We were clearly under pressure. Bagha (Tejesh) Shom was our coach. I was not in the playing XI. PK was very close to Baghada, as he was also the coach of the Eastern Railway side in those days.

“From the ground itself, PK requested Baghada to give me, the ‘new boy’, a chance. Baghada sent me in and within two minutes, I gave a through pass to Neville D’Souza and he scored the equaliser. Later, I also scored a goal and we won the game convincingly by a 31 margin. I have always remained very grateful to PK since that day. I never looked back as a footballer,” Balaram told The Telegraph from his Uttarpara residence on Friday.

Reminiscing the golden days, a nostalgic Balaram added: “He was like a tiger on the field. He had the same power on both feet. Chuni and I were not as well built as PK. He could easily dribble on the run past opponent. I was never able to do that.

“Chuni was an inside-left, PK was outside-right and I used to play outside-left. We had very good understanding. If Chuni or PK was in a better position to score, I always passed the ball to them. They also did the same for me. The three of us last met a few months back at the Salt Lake Stadium. The production team of Maidaan, a biopic on legendary football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, had invited us. Both of them came in wheelchairs, I was shocked to see them like that.”

To Balaram, PK remained a fighter till his last day.

“He was a fighter throughout his life. He was the captain of the India team in 1960 Rome Olympics. He was going through some personal problems as his father was not well at that time. But when he was on the ground, he was a different person altogether. He scored a fantastic goal against France. We were unlucky that the match ended 11.

“And look how he was fighting in the hospital for the last one month… That’s how he was. Actually, he was terribly heartbroken the day his wife, Arati, passed away (in 2003). It seemed he lost half his life that day,” Balaram said. Did his old friend, an extremely successful player and coach, ever have a regret? “He did regret something — that he never played for Mohun Bagan or East Bengal.”

In the Calcutta Football League, there was a time when Balaram used to play for BNR while PK was an Eastern Railway star. Balaram cherishes the memories of that rivalry, but is his time-tested friendship with PK that makes him more emotional.

“At times we were rivals on the ground, but we were very good friends off it. That friendship will never die,” Balaram signed off.