Karunanidhi was a great admirer of cricket and greatest fan of CSK: Srinivasan

While the entire country is mourning at the passing away of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi, former BCCI chief N Srinivasan expressed his sadness at the demise of 'Kalaignar' and went on to highlight how passionate he was for sports and especially cricket.

Srinivasan, in a chat with ET Now, went on to state that Karunanidhi was a "great admirer" of cricket and that the former CM of Tamil Nadu was "the greatest fan" of Chennai Super Kings.

"Very few people know that he was a sports lover. He just loved cricket. It's a little known facet about him. He encouraged sports. When India did well, he was happy. When India didn't do well, I would get a call. He was the greatest fan of the Chennai Super Kings. It's little known facet of him," Srinivasan said.

Srinivasan rolled back in time and recollected some of the times when Karunanidhi had made his way into the Chepauk stadium to watch matches.

"When CSK used to play here (Chepauk), he will come to the stadium and watch matches. I have sat with him and as CM suddenly, to my surprise, you find that he is sitting there. And he was upset when CSK lost.

"To him cricket was very important. He was a great admirer of cricket, sportsmen...Unfortunately, CSK had to go out of Chennai, otherwise he would have been there to watch them lifting the cup," Srinivasan mentioned.

Many cricketers had expressed their condolences on the passing away of Karunanidhi. TN and India cricketer R Ashwin had tweeted: "It's sad to hear about the demise of Dr. M. karunanidhi, may his soul RIP and my condolences to his family and friends."

India opening batsman M Vijay tweeted: "Massive loss - a great leader who worked all his life for the betterment of people. My deepest condolences to his family. #RIPKalaignar"