Delhi Cricket suffers irreparable loss as legendary coach Tarak Sinha dies at 71

Legendary Coach Tarak Sinha dies at the age of 71 who produced 13 international cricketers

Rishabh Pant poses with Tarak Sinha (©RishabhPant/Twitter)

Acclaimed cricket coach of Delhi, Tarak Sinha passed away on Saturday morning. Cricket fraternity all over India mourns the demise of this legendary Guru Dronacharya of Delhi cricket.

Sinha founded Sonnet Cricket Club, the nursery of Delhi cricket

Tarak Sinha was the founder of Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi, which nurtured some of the finest talents in the country. He is credited for creating a marvellous cricket environment in Delhi. He was also awarded Dronacharya Award in 2018 by the union government. He was the fifth Indian cricket coach to get the prestigious award after Desh Prem Azad, Gurcharan Singh, Ramakant Achrekar and Sunita Sharma.

The Sonnet Cricket Club announced this tragic news, “It is with a heavy heart we have to share this tragic news of Shri Tarak Sinha, the founder of Sonnet Club, has left us for heavenly abode at 3 am on Saturday after a brave battle with lung cancer for two months.

They talked about his love for his students, “He has been the soul of Sonnet Cricket Club which has given India and Delhi cricket so many gems. Tarak sir's pride was in his students, and his support through this period kept him going. He was only thinking about grooming young talent during this battle. Even at the age of 70, he was enthusiastic about getting to the field and working on young cricketers.”

They thanked doctors who tried to save him, “We want to thank each and everyone who has been by his side in these trying times and prayed for his recovery. We also want to appreciate the efforts put in by the doctors in Jaipur and Delhi who worked tirelessly to revive him.”

Sinha produced 13 international cricketers

Renowned cricketers like Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Nehra, Anjum Chopra, Rumeli Dhar, Atul Wassan, Ajay Sharma, KP Bhaskar, Surinder Khanna, Raman Lamba, Manoj Prabhakar, Sanjeev Sharma, Surinder Khanna, Nitish Rana had been coached under Sinha.

He produced 13 international cricketers, higher than any Indian cricket coach and over 100 Ranji cricketers in his coaching career, which spanned across five decades.

Coached Delhi, Rajasthan to Ranji Trophy wins

He coached the Indian Women’s Cricket Team for a brief period of 2001-2002. Delhi Ranji side won the Ranji Trophy under the coaching of Sinha in the 1985-86 season. Also, he coached the Rajasthan side, which won their first-ever Ranji title in the season of 2010-11.

Before that, Rajasthan team were languishing in the Plate Division of the Ranji Trophy.

Jharkhand team was considered as minnows before Sinha was appointed as director and chief coach of the team, which made it to the Ranji Trophy knockout stage in the 2012-13 season.

Sonnet Cricket Club founded by Sinha in 1969

The late Tarak Sinha founded Sonnet Cricket Club in 1969, however, his aim to fulfil the dreams of young cricketers came from his dream of playing cricket for India. He was rejected in Delhi’s Under-16 school games trial as wicketkeeper batter in his school days due to school cricket politics. Those were the days when he decided that he will live his dream through his students’ success.

Sinha was kind to students who could not afford to pay coaching fees. He would help the students from lower-middle class and middle class to continue their game and reach their dream.

Although he got recognition very late in his career, the success his students gained on the cricket field is the real recognition he earned throughout his life.

The union government gave tribute to Sinha,

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCC) mourned the demise of Sinha, also posted a picture of Sinha on Twitter, receiving the Dronacharya Award from India’s President Ram Nath Kovind.

He was fondly called “Ustaad Ji” by his students. Many cricketers and cricket pundits from Delhi and India gave tribute to Sinha.

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