Former India opener and national selector VB Chandrasekhar passed away in Chennai on Thursday following a massive cardiac arrest. One of the main architects behind CSK’s strong foundation, V B Chandrasekhar was the one who brought MS Dhoni to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League. Notably, Chandrasekhar was an intergral part of the Super Kings family and served as manager of the Chennai-based franchise for three years.

The dashing Tamil Nadu right-hander of yesteryears, who was only six days short of his 58th birthday, is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Chandrasekhar played 7 ODIs between 1988 and 1990, scoring only 88 runs, but at the domestic level he was prolific for a few seasons, aggregating 4999 runs in 81 games with a highest score of 237 not out.

An astute reader of the game, he was later a national selector when Greg Chappell was the coach and in his later years also did commentary in domestic cricket.

"His passion was unmatched and I know he used to spend a lot from his own pocket in a running a team in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) known as VB Kanchi Veerans. It will take some time for this tragic news to sink in,"former India stumper Deep Dasgupta told PTI.

The news of Chandrasekhar's demise left the cricketing fraternity in shock as they condoled the death of Chandrasekhar. Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina among other Indian cricketers took to Twitter to pay tribute to the former India selector.

India and Chennai Super Kings player Suresh Raina wrote, "Extremely sad & shocked to hear about the passing away of VB Chandrasekhar sir. His consistent efforts made it possible to set the right foundation of the CSK team. He always encouraged & believed in us since very beginning. My deepest condolences to the family," Raina tweeted.


India and CSK off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also expressed his sadness.


Former India opener Aakash Chopra expressed shock at Chandrasekhar's death.