Gaekwad, who held the title of India’s oldest living Test cricketer, passed away at the age of 95 in Baroda on February 13. However, the Indian team opted to wear black armbands in his honor on Day 3 of the third Test against England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, instead of on the first day.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on X (previously known as Twitter) that the players would be wearing black armbands to commemorate the former Indian Test captain before Day 3.
Sunil Gavaskar, a former Indian cricketer, expressed his disagreement with this decision, stating that the players should have worn black armbands from the first day itself.
Dattajirao Gaekwad made his Test debut as an opening batsman against England in June 1952 in Leeds. He only played 11 matches for the Test team until 1961, scoring a total of 350 runs. Gaekwad’s final Test match was against Pakistan in Chennai in January 1961, where he played as a middle-order batsman.
In addition to his Test career, Gaekwad also participated in 110 first-class matches, accumulating 5788 runs with an average of 36.40. He achieved his highest score of 249* and led Baroda to their first Ranji Trophy title in nine years. Gaekwad also scored a century in the final against Services.
Following the passing of Deepak Shodhan in May 2016, Gaekwad became recognized as the oldest living Test cricketer.
According to the Source firstsportz.com