"Always stood out": Tendulkar condoles death of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe

Sachin Tendulkar. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

India's batting great Sachin Tendulkar expressed his heartfelt condolences following the demise of former England batsman Graham Thorpe.

Suffering from illness for a long time, Graham Thorpe aged 55 passed away which shook the cricketing world.

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Sachin took to X and wrote, "It's extremely sad to learn that Graham Thorpe is no longer with us. His reputation as a naturally gifted, free-flowing batter who played fearlessly and with flair, always stood out. Sending my heartfelt condolences to his family and close ones. Rest in peace, Graham."

Debuting for England in 1993, Graham Thorpe was known as the batting mainstay of English cricket till the early 2000s. Donning the England jersey in 100 Tests, Thorpe scored 6,744 runs with an average of 44.66. He also has 16 centuries and 39 half-centuries with a best score of unbeaten 200 runs.

In ODIs, the gritty batter scored 2380 runs at an average of 37.18 with 21 fifties. He appeared at two ICC Men's Cricket World Cups, scoring 254 runs at the 1996 edition in Sri Lanka and then contributing 125 runs three years later at the event in England, Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

In the ICC batting rankings, Thorpe peaked at No.3 in Tests ahead of England's tour of the West Indies in 1998. His peak in the ODI rankings was No.10, the release added.

After hanging his boots, Graham Thorpe took the coaching responsibilities for New South Wales, Surrey and England Men's side.

He was involved with the England setup as a coach for the majority of the 2010s and was part of the coaching hierarchy in the role of batting coach that netted the European side of the 2019 World Cup on home soil in thrilling fashion.

Thorpe served as England's assistant coach up until the 2021/22 Ashes tour of Australia. He was subsequently appointed as Afghanistan's head coach in March 2022, but couldn't take up the position due to his illness.

(With ANI Inputs)