When Chetan Chauhan saved the life of Sikh teammates in 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi

Playing with a broken thumb in Australia against the legandary duo of Dennis Lillie and Jeff Thompson or whether scoring three consecutive centuries with a broken jaw in the Ranji Trophy Chetan Chauhan showed himself as a gutsy cricketer in his career. But Chauhan, didn't survived Covid-19 and died from its complications on Sunday.

Former North Zone players have recollected how Chauhan came save Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rajinder Ghai in train when a complete outrage was in the entire nation against the Sikh community after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. "The incident took place on 'Jhelum Express' when the players of North Zone and Central Zone were returning from Pune after playing their Duleep Trophy semifinal. Recollecting the incident," former Haryana off-spinner Sarkar Talwar told TOI.

"The match ended on October 30 and the next morning when we were getting ready for the airport, we came to know that the PM had been assassinated. So our team manager (Prem Bhatia) got us first-class tickets on Jhelum Express. It was a nightmare journey and it took us four days to reach Delhi."

"At one of the stations, around 40-50 people entered the compartment looking for people from the Sikh community. We had three Sikh players - Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rajinder Ghai and Yograj Singh - in our team. I vividly remember, Chetan Chauhan and Yashpal Sharma had a heated argument with the mob and once they realised that they were Indian cricketers, the mob got off the compartment," recollected Talwar.

Former Indian all-rounder Yograj Singh even advised Sidhu to cut his hair to get unoticed. "It was very scary, they were burning trains and after their face-off with Chetan Chauhan and Yashpal, I asked Sidhu that let me cut your hair. He refused and said, 'Paaji I have been born as a Sardar and will die like one'," recalls Yograj Singh, father of cricketer Yuvraj Singh. "I remember one of the people from the mob shouted at Chetan paaji and said, 'We are here to kill the sardars, nothing will happen to you.' Chetan paaji yelled back, 'They are my brothers and you can't touch them.' The way Chetan Chauhan dealt with the situation was quite commendable," he added.

Gursharan Singh, who was in the other compartment too recollected the incident and said, "If not for Chetan Chauhan, I don't think that any of us would have survived. I and Rajinder Hans (former left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh) were on a different bogie and when we came to know about the incident, it left us very scared. But Chetan Chauhan came to us and reassured us that we would be safe and the mob would not trouble us." Rajinder Ghai.

Speaking to TOI Ghai said, "I don't know how we survived. It was horrifying. Chetan Chauhan gave us the second life." He added, "We got out of the train at Okhla station because Yashpal Sharma's house was close by. We stayed there for a week before Sidhu's father sent help to rescue us."