India legend Sunil Gavaskar’s mother passes away due to age-related illness

India legend and 1983 World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar’s mother, Meenal Gavaskar passed away at the age of 95 on Sunday, December 26. She died due to age related illness at her residence in Mumbai.

It is understood that the unfortunate news broke when the former cricketer was commentating during the second Test match that was being played between India and Bangladesh in Mirpur. Meenal was the younger sister of former India wicketkeeper and ex-president of the Bombay Cricket Association, Madhav Mantri.

She played a vital role in shaping up Gavaskar's career in his formative years when the cricketer was making a place in the national side. Gavaskar eventually went on to become one of the greatest cricketers of all time as he was sensational with the bat for his side.

Meenal is survived by Sunil Gavaskar, and her daughters Nutan and Kavita along with grandchildren and great grandchildren. Despite the unfortunate circumstance, Gavaskar continued to commentate in the recently concluded red-ball contest between India and the Bangla Tigers.

India inching closer to finals spot of ICC WTC 2021-23 cycle

Speaking about the match, veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was massively praised for his performance with the bat as he rescued the side from the jaws of defeat. Team India were seven down when Ashwin came onto bat and swiftly took matters into his own hands as he carved out an unbeaten knock of 42 runs from 62 balls.

The side eventually clinched the series 2-0 as they won the contest by three wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla national Stadium. This essentially meant that, India is still in the race to make a spot in the summit clash of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 cycle. 

KL Rahul and Co. rose up to the second spot in the WTC points table. Team India take up their next red-ball assignment against table toppers, Australia in a four-match series at home in February-March 2023.