Thread by @sidvee

If you track cricket scores online, if you have followed matches at work (or when traveling), if you have furiously refreshed your browser for updates, if you have been part of a chatroom or forum and met (and argued with) fellow fans… you must learn about Prof Sankara Rao 1/

Prof Sankara Rao was a brilliant man with several academic achievements. He was also a passionate cricket fan, who laid the groundwork for the monument that is ESPNcricinfo. I interviewed Professor Rao in 2013 and he told me – over piping hot coffee – about how it all began. 2/

Rao grew up in Eluru in AP in the '50s. He ran two miles to his friend’s house to listen to radio broadcasts. In 1972, Rao moved to North Dakota State University in Fargo. He would later joke: "Even if I had run 200 miles from Fargo, I would have not got any cricket scores.” 3/

If Rao wanted to get cricket updates in Fargo, his only resource was the newspapers in his university library. And they would sometimes reach Fargo a month after the match had actually finished. 4/

In 1988, Rao took a big step. He pumped in $300 into a Sony digital shortwave radio so that he could listen to the BBC’s Sports Roundup. Twice a day, for about 15 minutes, Rao was riveted to the radio.5/

This is an image stuck in my head. Sankara Rao in freezing, snowing North Dakota – bang in the middle of nowhere – tuning his shortwave to listen to the BBC. I consider myself a passionate cricket fan but I wonder if I would have summoned this level of commitment. 6/

A few months later, Rao noted down the scores from the BBC roundups and posted them on his University network. Anyone who accessed his profile could see the scores he had put up.

Then he set up a mailing list to disseminate these daily scores across the US universities 7/

At some point Rao found the cricket group rec.sport.cricket. He posted his scores in a sub group rec.sport.cricket.scores. He allowed other contributors to become moderators and soon it turned into a community where scores were shared from around the world 8/

The set of moderators and contributors would go on to start live bbb commentary of games around the world. In 1993, Simon King – a post-doctoral student in Minnesota – started a bot on the IRC channel #cricket to provide scores on request. The bot was called cricinfo. 9/

I met Professor Rao when he was 73. But I could see the burning passion that would have driven him in his 30s and 40s. I heard the ache in his voice when he spoke about being so far from cricket. And then the twinkle in those eyes when he spoke about tuning the shortwave 10/

Rao did not do any of this for making money. He did it wholly as a passion. Something apart from work. Something that kindled in him a joy he had first experienced as a child in Eluru in Andhra Pradesh. 11/

Today, I received news that he passed away. May his soul rest in peace. May his family find the strength to deal with their loss. May his love for the game inspire us all. 12/

Here's the piece I wrote in 2013 about cricinfo's early years: espncricinfo.com/25/content/sto…