In his heydays, Brett Lee had troubled even the most formidable batting line-up in the world with his fiery pace. But, for once the former Australian speedster was bowled over by the gesture from 15-odd children at the free paediatric cancer ward at Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Oncology and Research (SRIOR) here recently.
The children presented him with a pencil sketch of Lee with his son Preston, and the names of the children were also incorporated on either side of the artwork.
The Aussie was immensely touched, and he thanked the children for what he went on describe as a priceless gift from them. He also presented each child with a miniature cricket bat and a smiley ball signed by him.
After a quick visit to the ward, he went about fulfilling his tightly-packed schedule for the day with a smile. At the same time, he made sure the lovely piece of art given by the children reached his Melbourne home intact.
“We wanted Brett to carry something that he would cherish for a life time ,” said P. Guhan, Director of SRIOR.
“When he looked at the photo, the first thing he said was `wow'. That moment was something special for all of us ," Dr. Guhan said.