Tribute to former cricket chairman: Sharad Ghai, ex-CK chair is dead

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Tributes poured in for former Cricket Kenya and Table Tennis chairman Sharad Ghai who died yesterday at Aga Khan a hospital after a long illness.

Many of those who paid tribute to Ghai, who was in active management of Kenyan cricket for close to a decade, described him as a reliable friend.

Ghai, who was 65, was fondly referred to the as the father of Sports Marketing in Kenya. He was the chair of the then Kenya Cricket Association for a short while before the body’s name was changed to Cricket Kenya.

National team coach Thomas Odoyo, who was a player then said that it was a big loss to the country’s sporting fraternity and sorority.

Sharaj made a difference

“He made a big difference during his time. I was player but he was more of a father and a friend. He treated us as equals,” Odoyo said, adding that Ghai was easy-going personality contributed to better performance because he was approachanble and used to listen to the players.

Table Tennis President Andrew Mudibo who worked with Ghai for close to a decade said: “Sharad, as we all called him was one person who you could always count on, to get you the best marketing deal or if an agenda that was right had to be pushed through. He was always ahead of the game and came out on top all the time.”

In a statement sent to newsrooms, Cricket Kenya chair Jackie Janmohamed said “Sharad Ghai was cricket and cricket was Sharad. He changed how we looked at marketing and brought the era of serious sports marketing.” [Elizabeth Mburugu]