The 56-year-old legend was admitted to the hospital this month after a bout of jaundice and dengue made his condition worse. He was earlier airlifted from Varanasi.

He was also a part of the national team that won a silver medal at the Delhi Asian Games in 1982 and bronze in the Seoul Asiad in 1986.

“In the late 70’s and early 80’s, you didn’t go to watch hockey. You went to watch magic; mesmerizing magic created by a man from Benares called Mohammed Shahid,” wrote Sundeep Misra, a long-time hockey correspondent, for Firstpost.

“Those were the kind of skills that couldn’t be taught. No amount of coaching camps, elite coaches could create supple wrists that, honestly, were an extension of the hockey stick. Shahid, short but lithe displayed his dribbling skills like a card-dealer in a casino.”

The internet was full of praise for the man who many consider as one of the greatest Indians to have ever played the game.

Remembering the time during the 1980 Games in Moscow, M K Kaushik, who was one of the closest friends of Shahid, told PTI:

“He was quite young in 1980 and were very senior to him. He respected every one and had a jolly nature. His dribbling skills played a crucial part in India winning the gold. The whole world respected his excellent stick work. There was no one who could match him whether it was a creating a penalty corner or firing a field goal.”

Writing for the Times of India, Rajesh Kalra shared this anecdote:

One of the things we used to do to improve our concentration was to bounce the ball on the blade of our stick. Several others in the national team then could bounce the ball on the reverse of the blade that was curved, and the ball would always be in their control. But how was Shahid different? He would talk to you, look here and there and rotate the stick with the ball bobbing up and down his stick, as if tied to a string.

Finally, we leave you with this:

What a legend! Indian hockey has lost a crown jewel.

Featured image source: Twitter

With PTI inputs