Sunil Gudge

Maharashtra leg-spinner Sunil Gudge passed away at his residence in Pune following a heart attack. Born in Pune on December 31, 1959, the leg-spinner and handy lower order batsman played 55 first class matches during his decade-and-a-half career. Gudge, an integral part of the strong Maharashtra team of the 1980s led by Raju Balelar, Milind Gunjal and Surendra Bhave, took 110 wickets with 5 for 46 as his best from among five wickets in an innings hauls.

He also scored 1,033 runs from 61 innings with a century to boot. Gudge was also part of the Under-22 side that played against the visiting England side at Pune in 81-82. He also played for the Board Presidents XI against the touring Sri Lanka and West Indies teams of 86-87 and 87-88 at Gwalior and Visakhapatnam respectively.

Romesh Sharma

Former Jammu and Kashmir Minister and senior Congress leader Romesh Sharma has passed away after a prolonged illness. He was 65. Ex-Congress Minister from Nowshera Constituency Sharma passed away while undergoing a treatment at a hospital in New Delhi.

Sharma who was also an Ayurvedic doctor, joined politics before 2000 and won the Assembly elections in 2002. He remained MoS Commerce and Industries in late Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed’s regime and later as MoS PHE and Irrigation & Flood Control in Ghulam Nabi Azad led government till 2008.