Industrialist Vijaypat Singhania, who passed away in Mumbai on Saturday at 87 and was cremated the next day, was a massive cricket fan, former India all-rounder Karsan Ghavri said.

Ghavri, now 75, recalled how in the 1970s Singhania, then head of the Raymond Group, put together a formidable side under the leadership of Mansur Ali Khan ‘Tiger’ Pataudi, who was nearing the end of his first-class career. Thanks largely to Singhania’s equation with Pataudi, JK Sports Club quickly became a part of Mumbai’s competitive inter-office cricket circuit.