The lines are poetic, like a shayari that captures love and longing in equal measure. “Safed jersey se vida le raha hoon, lekin usse judi yaadon se kabhi nahi.” I am parting with the white jersey, but not with the memories attached to it, he said in an Instagram post on Friday, 13 years to the day since his Test debut. The words carried contentment, yet longing and regret filled the moment of parting.

He was a lover with a fighter’s heart. He fought for the whites. He left his hometown Sahaspur in western Uttar Pradesh, ploughed on the sun-parched decks of Kolkata maidans, listened to his inner junoon, glazed his gifts to perfection, god-given he always emphasised, and fulfilled his dream of representing his country with his artful craft.

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He fought again, against injuries and accusations, criticism of the vilest kind, defeated them, and fought again. He lost the last battle, the fight to wear the whites once more.…