Our inspirational and greatly loved
                    Club President
        4 May 1948 – 25 November 2025
  A life well lived, with a smile on his face.
              Forever in our hearts.

SOME TRIBUTES  (Other tributes are on the Club Kudoboard on which you can add your own – link: https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/DbpurcWX

Thank you, Sunil, for so many happy memories. With your irresistible infectious enthusiasm, you lit up the world and every room you walked into with positivity, generosity, smiles and laughter. How brilliantly you brought people together and inspired us all. This wonderful club you created from nothing and then nurtured and led so magnificently for over 50 years, has fostered countless KCC friendships that have blessed so many of our lives.

A KCC legend never to be forgotten

                                                                                             – Chris Ledger

Dear Sunil, we owe you so much. Without you I would have never gone to India and met Kapil Dev. I would not have developed my love of Indian food. Would not have played social cricket for over 20 years. How many dear friends, and cherished memories I would have missed, had I not met you.

I strive to be positive in my outlook, but it is not always easy. You made it seem effortless. Always smiling, always joking, always bringing people together, smoothing over disagreements, inspiring and enthusing others, always creating, always coming up with ideas, always welcoming, always fun, never taking things too seriously (except in matters of love, friendship and socialising with the opposition).

My favourite cricketing memory: Marlow Park, with you about to run in to bowl, and someone sticks their hand up – “Sunil, what about square leg?”. “I don’t need a square leg”, comes the reply with a grin. The batsman, seeing a full ball on middle and leg, looks to hungrily whip the ball through the vacant area – and loses his off stump as the ball, inevitably, swings late.

I’m picturing you now retiring from the field one last time, happy and smiling, leading the team off, ball held high, to rapturous applause from all your many families and friends. Bless you Sunil, and thank you, for all you did for us.

                                                                                                     – Jon Pickles

We all know and love someone who, often unknowingly, has an enormous influence on our lives. Sometimes that person is family. Sometimes a friend. Sometimes a friend who might as well have been family. Sunil was that person for me. I owe my very life in London to him. Without Sunil, there would have been no KCC. Without KCC I would have never met all these wonderful people that are now my lifelong – my best – friends.

In all these years I knew Sunil, I struggle to recall a single moment when I found him without spirit. He had an extraordinary, unwavering positivity. Sunil wielded that charming smile of his like a weapon, shattering through every impregnable barrier and disarming even the most hardened sceptic. Blazergate, anyone? Or the time he somehow convinced Brian Lara to don that (hideous) blazer and pose for the camera, KCC book in hand.

And what a mighty fine cricketer Sunil was. He embodied the very best values of the sport we love. The camaraderie and sportsmanship, the courage and fortitude – he embodied all of these qualities and more. I have so many fond memories of Sunil’s exploits on the field. As skipper, Sunil was always my “go to” bowler when the chips were down. But perhaps my favourite memory is that amazing last wicket stand Sunil put on with Deepak at Westminster. Sunil’s 2 was every bit as valuable as Deepak’s 83.

It was the morning after one of my first few games for KCC. I was on the way into work when the phone rang. It was Sunil. He was calling to remind me that I should not brag about my hundred the previous day to anyone in the office. He told me that he was delighted that I had scored my debut hundred for the club but absolutely thrilled that I had done so whilst calling in sick to work. From that day on, as far as he was concerned, we were lifelong friends, cut from the same truant’s cloth. So, thank you Sunil. Thank you for being my friend. My family. I will miss you deeply.

                                                                                                  – Rohan Ghosh

All of us in Adelaide with KCC connections are deeply saddened to hear the news of Sunil’s death. Sunil holds such a treasured place in our hearts.

My time in the UK, now around 40 years ago, was special. Playing cricket with  KCC made it extraordinary. The fact that a tight bunch of people from Adelaide with some connection to each other, but otherwise not all known to each other, still get together and remember our best and worst innings, is largely due to Sunil. We hope that the Adelaide Cup continues to be a part of KCC’s traditions.

Nancy and I owe so much of the happiness we enjoyed during our time in the UK to the friendships that were fostered by Manju and Sunil.

Sunil was unique – and wonderful. His love of cricket was profound. He was an extraordinary man, whose love of people, and cricket with style, was everlasting.