New Delhi, August 16, 2020.

Former Test batsman Chetan Chauhan, who shone as a gritty player against pace overseas and as Sunil Gavaskar’s enduring opening partner in the 1970s, died on Sunday following complications due to Covid-19. He was 73 and is survived by wife Sangeeta and son Vinayak.

The two-time former Lok Sabha MP was Home Guard minister in Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet, having served as the state’s sports minister. The BJP leader tested positive for Covid-19 last month and was shifted to a Gurugram hospital after his condition worsened.

In a decade-long Test career, Chauhan played 40 Tests and seven ODIs. He scored 2,084 Test runs with 16 half-centuries but missed out on a century with a best of 97. He played few ODIs, but was a prolific batsman in his long first-class career.

Chauhan represented Maharashtra for almost a decade before switching to Delhi, amassing 11,143 runs, with 21 centuries and 59 half-centuries. The last of those innings was a gritty half-century with a broken finger, in the 1985 Ranji Trophy final loss to Mumbai.