The sports journalistic fraternity of India on Saturday woke up to the profoundly sad news of cricket writer Santosh Suri passing away at the age of 68 in Lucknow. He is survived by his wife and daughter. Suri contributed regularly to this newspaper over the last decade after his retirement from The Times of India.

Playing the game and being a good swing bowler in his younger days contributed to his expertise in cricket writing. His Ahmedabad-based contemporary, Sunil Vaidya told us on Saturday that Suri did some of his education in Jamnagar and had he not taken up journalism, he could have played for a state like Saurashtra. He spoke fluent Kathiawar Gujarati.