'His contribution to Indian cricket has been immense and will never be forgotten' - Anjum Chopra remembers legendary coach Tarak Sinha

Tarak Sinha passing away in November last year at the age of 71 plunged the entire Indian cricket fraternity into a state of mourning. Sinha, who established and ran the very famous and successful Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi, since 1969, was a father-figure to all his wards. The legendary coach refined and polished the raw skills of multiple players who went on to play for state teams and the National Indian teams.

The likes of Surinder Khanna, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma, Anjum Chopra, Ashish Nehra, Aakash Chopra, Atul Wassan, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant, among others, were all coached by Sinha. Over the years, Sinha, who worked at the PGDAV college, in the University of Delhi when he started the Sonnet club, came to be fondly referred to as 'Ustaadji' by his students and others. One of his most famous wards, former India captain, Anjum Chopra was a guest on Times of India's sports podcast Sportscast recently and recalled the extraordinary contribution of Tarak Sinha to Indian cricket, echoing the sentiment that Sinha was more than just a coach - he was a guardian, who understood what it takes to handle talented youngsters, who are also in many ways, just regular kids.

“All the words which you used to describe Tarak sir, he was everything - at least to me and I am sure, whether it is to Rishabh Pant or Aakash Chopra or Ashish Nehra - he was that. His contribution to me as a cricketer, to me as a human being to becoming an all-rounded sportsperson, his contribution has been immense and it will never be forgotten. Just the other day we were having a chat with a group of club cricketers and every word that we spoke, every line that we shared had Sir's name in it.