The Indian reader’s love for Jeffrey Archer’s pacy page-turners is long-known. A thumbed copy of “Kane and Abel” in a home bookshelf, or a pirated “The Clifton Chronicles” novel at a pavement bookseller, has been a familiar sight for generations of readers.Less known was Archer’s love for India and for its favourite obsession, cricket.From Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli, the famed storyteller, who would have been quick to dismiss the rather prosaic label of “writer”, followed Indian cricket with the enthusiasm of a true-blue fan.And the affection, as it turned out, was mutual.Archer, who died “suddenly and peacefully” at his home on Monday, a day before the global release of his final novel, “Adam and Eve”, was an admirer of a battery of Indian cricketers.Some of them, he announced with a child-like delight, knew his books just as well.”Lots of Indian cricketers read my books. For example: Ashwin, VVS Laxman, and Rahul Dravid… they all read my books,” the animated Archer had said at the sideline of Jaipur Literature Festival in 2019.Even Anjali Tendulkar, wife of legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar and someone Archer has described as a “dear friend”, is also a longtime reader of his novels.”Anjali reads all my books,” Archer said giddily while discussing his then-new novel “Heads You Win”.The acclaimed author was an astute reader too — of the game and its players.Not for nothing did he put Virat Kohli, among the leading batsmen of his generation, in the same bracket as Tendulkar.”Pujara is a beautiful batsman and Kohli… he is just too good. They are really the Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid of this period and it is a privilege to watch them,” Archer said.If Kohli represented the Indian batting superstar on the horizon then, it was Virender Sehwag who seemed to capture Archer’s imagination most vividly.The author was fascinated by Sehwag’s sheer audacity and placed the then Indian opener alongside the swashbuckling West Indies legend.”Sehwag is probably the most exciting batsman other than Viv Richards that I have seen in my life,” he noted in a conversation in 2013.Archer was also an unabashed admirer of Test cricket and of the kind of endurance represented by Dravid and Laxman.For him, cricket was not merely about sixes, packed stadiums and the razzmatazz of Twenty20. It could also be about two batsmen spending an entire day refusing to give in.”Cricket is a Test match with V V S Laxman and Rahul Dravid fighting all day to save the game,” he said.That purist was seriously concerned about the growing dominance of T20 cricket and the money surrounding the IPL.He even recalled being struck by the near-empty stands during a Test in Mohali, especially when compared with the crowds for T20 matches.”I was shocked to see so few people in the stadium. The ground was empty. It is unbelievable. When it’s a T20 match it’s absolutely packed,” he said.For all his enthusiasm for the modern game, Archer’s affection for Indian cricket also reached deep into its past.Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was not simply one of the players he admired. He was a friend from their Oxford days.”The Nawab of Pataudi was a friend. We were at Oxford together. I am a great admirer of his,” Archer recalled.He of course was a big admirer of Dravid’s style, Kumble’s leadership and, inevitably, Tendulkar’s extraordinary place in the game.”Rahul Dravid is such a stylist batsman. Anil Kumble is a great captain… And of course, the great Sachin is the great Sachin,” he had said.Archer’s writing career spanned five decades and helped him bounce back from financial ruin following some bad investments.His debut novel, “Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less,” hit the shelves in 1976 and was said to have been inspired by his own experience of nearly going bankrupt.He went on to spend 14 years and five months on Britain’s Jattvibeday Times bestseller lists and over five years on The New York Times bestseller lists, selling 300 million books worldwide, according to HarperCollins.Archer is survived by his wife of 60 years, Dame Mary Archer, their two sons, two granddaughters and three grandsons, his publisher said.