``That night he was to leave for India but considering the importance of the match his focus was only on cricket,'' Akram recollected the fateful day when Lamba played his life's final game at the Bangabandhu Stadium here.

``He told me he wanted to field at forward short leg for a couple of overs as that would boost the bowler's confidence. I wasn't very sure but Lamba never listened to anybody, so passionate was he about the game.''

Destiny willed otherwise. Even as the Delhi District Cricket Association were not sure about his whereabouts as Delhi were playing Tamil Nadu simultaneously in a Ranji Trophy match back home, Lamba was hit on his head when the Mohammadean Club batsman Mehrab Hussain Oppi pulled ashort ball from the Abhani Club off-spinner Saifullah Jem.

Nobody knew the intensity of the injury then, as Lamba walked off the field and sat with his teammates on his favourite chair in the dressing room. Medical experts pointed out later that had Lamba been made to lie down with his back up, he might have vommitted and that would have prevented blood from clotting, which took his life.

Soon, thousands of Bangladeshis thronged the PG Hospital in Dhaka where Lamba was moved there after his condition worsened towards evening. The batsman Mehrab Hussain Oppi did not eat, drink or sleep for two days.``He was the player cricketers like me looked up to for guidance. When I realised that my shot took his life, I still have nightmares. It took me so many months to come over that. I hope his family and God forgive me,'' and Oppi breaks down.

``Lamba in hospital meant gloom in the city. Just about everybody here was praying for his well being. As for Oppi I haven't seen a man as shocked as he. We were worriedabout the after-effects on him as well,'' Akram says.

For five days the tragedy was the lead story in almost all Bangladeshi newspapers. When doctors finally confirmed that Lamba had lost his battle with life, nobody wanted to believe it. The Abhani Club ground was packed with fans wishing to pay homage to Lamba when his dead body, wrapped in the club flag, was brought there.

``I have never seen such concern even for national figures. But Lamba was so popular,'' Akram says.

The Indians may have forgotten him but Lamba will live forever in Dhaka. The Bangladesh Cricket Board organised a benefit match between the Abhani Club and Mohammadean Club for Lamba. That was the last chance to pay homage to him and as the BCB secretary Syed Ashraf-ul-Haq recalls, more people turned out for that game than even in an international match. The proceeds from the game, $10,000, were handed over to Lamba's Irish wife Kim.

The board had also named the far end of the ground as the Raman Lamba Stands. ``That is the leasthe deserved,'' Ashraf says.

One chair was, however, unoccupied in his benefit match; The one Lamba used to use in the dressing room. Nobody uses that. ``Nobody can take his place. For us Bangladeshis, his memories still remain. They would never die,'' Oppi says.