Veteran cricket writer Rajan Bala passes away

One of the finest and most revered cricket writers in this country, Rajan was the former Sports Editor of Deccan Herald and served in a similar position in several publications across the country.
He had suffered a stroke and been on dialysis for some time. He suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital less than a fortnight ago, where he slipped into coma. He never regained consciousness and passed away Friday morning.
Rajan who was a cricket writer for over four decades, also authored half a dozen bookson cricket including biographies of B S Chandrasekhar and Sachin Tendulkar. In the last few years he worked as a columnist.

His latest book on cricket "Time Well Spent" was to have been originally launched in Bangalore tomorrow. His last published book was "The Covers Are Off - A Socio-Historical Study of Indian Cricket : 1932-2003".
He was also the Indian correspondent of the Wisden Cricketer and Wisden Almanac for many years.
Rajan was an icon for the younger generation of writers of the willow game in the 1970s who followed his despatches from various parts of the cricket world with great interest.
Though he wrote primarily on cricket, Rajan had in-depth knowledge of Indian football, having grown up in Kolkata, and tennis.
Rajan was also a good club-level cricketer who used to bat higher up the order and bowl off spin.