First ever cricket fan I saw was Percy – Rohit Sharma

• Indian cricket captain pays tribute to Sri Lanka’s One-man cheer squad

Indian captain Rohit Sharma paid a fitting tribute to late Percy Abeysekera when he said the first-ever cricket fan he saw was him. 

“It’s a sad loss to the cricketing fraternity because in my eyes, he was the number one supporter of cricket at that point in time. Obviously, there have been so many fans now, but the first ever fan, cricket fan I saw was him. It’s a sad moment for all of us.”

“I was lucky to get an opportunity to meet him in Sri Lanka during the Asia Cup and he’s been such a great fan of cricket. He’s probably the first ever fan that I met, who was so genuine and the support from his side towards his team, towards the players was fantastic to see,” said Sharma.

“When I first went to Sri Lanka in 2006 actually for the U19 World Cup, he was there, but I was a little boy, I had no idea about how things work outside the cricket field. So, I was not too much into that. But when I went with the Indian team for the first time in 2008, I saw him for the first time and how passionate he was. I got lucky as well to meet his family, his son, his grandson, their family is very sweet, I went with a few of my team members as well.”

Percy passed away on Tuesday at the age of 87 following a brief illness. – (ST)