Dilip Sardesai

Dilip Sardesai

Personal information
Born	(1940-08-08)8 August 1940 Margao, Goa
Died	2 July 2007(2007-07-02) (aged 66) Mumbai, India
Batting	Right-hand bat
Bowling	Right arm bowler
Relations	Rajdeep Sardesai (son)
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 103)	1 December 1961 v England
Last Test	20 December 1972 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1961–1973	Bombay
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 30 179 Runs scored 2001 10,230 Batting average 39.23 41.75 100s/50s 5/9 25/56 Top score 212 222 Balls bowled 59 791 Wickets 0 8 Bowling average – 69.00 5 wickets in innings – 0 10 wickets in match – 0 Best bowling – 2/15 Catches/stumpings 4 85
Source: ESPNcricinfo

Dilip Narayan Sardesai (8 August 1940, Margao, Goa – 2 July 2007, Mumbai) was an Indian Test cricketer. He was the only Goa-born cricketer to play for India, and was often regarded as India's best batsman against spin bowling.

Early career

Sardesai made his first mark in cricket in the inter-university Rohinton Baria Trophy in 1959–60 where he made 435 runs at an average of 87. He made his first-class cricket debut for Indian Universities against the touring Pakistan team at Pune.

Test career

Sardesai had little to show in first class cricket in 1961–62, except for a 281 against Gujarat in a university match, but made his Test debut in the Second Test against England at Green Park, Kanpur in December 1961. He toured West Indies later in the season, playing in three of the five Tests. He was the batsman at the other end when Nari Contractor was seriously injured by Charlie Griffith in a match against Barbados. Contractor's injury created a place for Sardesai in the team. He scored 31 and 60 in the Test at Bridgetown, opening the batting, but was dropped after a pair in the following match. Sardesai scored 449 runs in the five Test series against England in 1963–64 with 79 and 87 in the Fifth and final Test as the most notable performances, helping India to secure a draw after being made to follow on.

Against New Zealand in 1964–65, Sardesai scored a double century at Bombay and a very fast hundred that set up a win at Delhi. New Zealand had forced India to follow on at Bombay, but Sardesai's unbeaten double-century nearly won the match for India. He played against West Indies in 1966-67, and then toured England in 1967, where he injured himself on a staircase in the pavilion at Lord's and missed the First Test at Headingley. He recovered to appear in the Second Test back at Lord's, but a broken finger sustained during that match ended his tour. He was dropped after two Tests in Australia in 1967–68 due to injury and a series of failures.

Sardesai's career had seemed over when he was picked for the Indian tour of West Indies in 1970–71. In the First Test at Kingston, India lost the first five wickets for 75, before Sardesai hit 212 runs and took the total to 387. His 112 in the next Test at Port of Spain led to India's first victory over West Indies. He hit another 150 in the Fourth Test after India were 70 for 6. His 642 runs in the series stood as an Indian record for five days before Sunil Gavaskar went past it^[1]. It was India's first victory over West Indies in a series and Vijay Merchant, the chairman of selectors, called Sardesai the "renaissance man of Indian cricket". Sardesai scored 54 and 40 in the Indian win over England at the Oval in 1971, which led to another series win. His career ended one Test later, and he retired from all cricket at the end of the 1972–73 season.

Sardesai played for Bombay in the Ranji Trophy in 13 seasons, between 1961 and 1973, including 10 finals, and never finished on the losing side. He scored 199 against Rajasthan in the 1967 final. In the semi-final against the same team two years later, he was Mankaded by Kailash Ghattani. Sardesai's final first-class match was the famous Ranji Trophy final against Madras in 1972–73, which ended on the first ball of the third day. Sardesai scored over 1,000 first-class runs in three domestic seasons, with a career best of 1,429 runs in 1964–65, which included his highest first-class score of 222, for Associated Cement Company against Indian Starlets in the final of the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament.

Personal life and family

Sardesai was married to Nandini, a sociologist and a member of the Central Board of Film Certification. His cousin Sopandev was also a cricketer, who played as a wicket-keeper in the first-class level for Rajputana. The Sardesais had three children together: son Rajdeep, and two daughters. Rajdeep is a television journalist and former cricketer. As a cricketer, he earned blue playing for the Oxford University, before working as the editor-in-chief of IBN18 Network prior to his resignation in 2014; his wife Sagarika Ghose is also a journalist. One of Dilip's daughter, Shonali, is a senior social scientist at the World Bank in Washington DC.

After retirement from cricket, Sardesai would split his time between his residences in Mumbai and Goa. In June 2007, he was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai for a chest infection. Suffering from kidney ailment during the time, he was on dialysis. He died on 2 July from multiple organ failure.

Test Hundreds

Double Centuries

• 212 v West Indies at Sabina Park, Kingston, Feb 18–23, 1971
• 200* v New Zealand at Mumbai, Mumbai, Mar 12–15, 1965

Centuries

• 150 v West Indies at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Apr 1–6, 1971
• 112 v West Indies at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Mar 6–10, 1971
• 106 v New Zealand at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi, Mar 19–22, 1965

Miscellaneous

Sardesai was popularly known as 'Sardee-Singh'. During his successful 1970–71 tour there, Sardesai was asked at the airport whether he had anything to declare. 'I have come here with runs', he replied, 'and I'll go back with more'. On 8 August 2018, search engine Google commemorated Sardesai with a Doodle on his 78th birth anniversary.

External links

• Dilip Sardesai at ESPNcricinfo
• Dilip Sardesai at CricketArchive (subscription required)