BATTLING CANCER, GAEKWAD RECEIVES EMOTIONAL MESSAGES FROM GAVASKAR, KAPIL, LLOYD AND MANY OTHERS

MUMBAI: At a time when he's currently battling cancer and undergoing treatment in London, former India batsman and coach Anshuman Gaekwad has received messages revealing their happy memories with him from many of his cricketing friends and former teammates.

Amongst those sending messages offering encouragement and motivation to Gaekwad are cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Clive Lloyd, Farokh Engineer, ex-India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar, BCCI president Roger Binny, Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil, Karsan Ghavri and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.

The 71-year-old Gaekwad, whose father, DK Gaekwad was an Indian captain, is undergoing treatment for blood cancer at the King's College Hospital in London.

In his video, Kapil poured his heart out for Gaekwad. India's 1983 World Cup-winning captain raised funds for Gaekwad's treatment and urged the BCCI to provide financial assistance for him too. Eventually, the Board released Rs 1 crore aid for the ailing cricketer.

In his video, Kapil talked about the memorable moments he and Gaekwad shared on the cricket field, playing under each other's captaincy during their illustrious careers.

"Hi Anshu, I know you are going through a rough time, but it doesn't matter, we have all gone through rough times in life. I remember all the good days. The first time? When I played under you, you were my captain. And I remember when I was captain you got two hundred runs in Jalandhar against Pakistan, so good memories. Difficult times come and go, but I know that you are a fighter. Come on, cheer up and try to live a life, whatever God has given you and I wish you to get better and better and be happy," Kapil Dev said in a video posted by journalist Vijay Lokapally.

In his message to Gaekwad, Engineer said, "Hello Anshu, my buddy. You are a fighter. We are all right behind you. We are all aware of what suffering you are going through. We are supporting you and we know that you'll come through it because you've shown your grit and determination in the past and I'm sure that you'll continue to do so and that willpower of yours will get through. You will recover my friend and we'll have good times together, like we used to. I wish you all the best. Keep smiling because you're going to get better for sure. God bless you. Take care."

Dev said he wished to have a coffee or a drink with Gaekwad when he recovers fully from his battle with cancer.

"We all have to go one day, but the best part about human beings is fighting it out the way you fight it out on the cricket field. Whatever is going to happen, will happen. I hope we meet soon. We will all celebrate together. We had a good time. You just look after yourself. It doesn't matter whatever happened, it happened for good, and I think you are a wonderful person. We had great stories to talk about. We have a lot to talk about, but firstly you need to get well soon. We will have coffee together and if nothing, then we can have a little drink together as well. Look after yourself. Love you from the entire cricket community. We all feel proud of you to remember that. Don't let us down? Look after yourself? Love you Anshu. Take care," he added.

Vengsarkar sent his video in Marathi, while Patil sent a voice message.

Gaekwad played 40 Test matches for India in which he scored 1985 runs at an average of 30.07 and 269 runs in 15 ODIs.