Tarak Sinha, one of India’s most respected coaches, passes away aged 71

Sinha founded the Sonnet Club way back in 1969, after he was not selected for Delhi’s junior team for the CK Nayudu Trophy. With a starting batch of 20-odd students, his club didn’t get any affiliation with the Delhi and District Cricket Association before 1971. The club went on to win all major trophies over the years. It formed a rivalry with the National Institute of Sport, run by the government and had better facilities. One of the alumni of Sonnet, former India cricketer Atul Wassan had said that the club always encouraged boys from middle and lower income class families, whereas NIS catered to rich kids.

"NIS catered to rich kids mainly and Sonnet encouraged boys from middle and lower middle class," Wassan had said in 2013. 

Sonnet has produced some of India's prominent cricketers such as Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ashish Nehra, Aakash Chopra, Anjum Chopra, Manoj Prabhakar, Rumeli Dhar, Ajay Sharma, Late Raman Lamba and Sanjiv Sharma.

"Tarak sir is not like a father figure. He is a father to me," Pant had once said during an interview with PTI.

The club, in an official statement, paid a tribute to the coaching stalwart, who died due to lung cancer. 

"It is with 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," the Sonnet Club said in a statement.