Cricket fraternity mourns Sardesai's death

MUMBAI: The Indian cricket fraternity on Tuesday expressed grief at the passing away of former Test cricketer Dilip Sardesai and paid glowing tributes to the "courageous batsman" who was largely responsible for India's historic 1971 series triumph in the West Indies.

Cricket Board president Sharad Pawar said Sardesai's death was an irreparable loss to Mumbai and Indian cricket.

"Dilip Sardesai was one of the most popular Indian cricketers who served Mumbai for a number of years. One cannot forget his passion for Mumbai cricket, particularly young cricketers and his encouragement to them," Pawar said.

"Sardesai's death is a great loss to Mumbai and Indian cricket," he added.

Spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi said Sardesai was one of the most prolific run-getters and recalled his commendable performance in the 1970-71 series.

"In the West Indies, he bailed out the team on his own. He is the one who laid the foundation in the first Test at Jamaica. I was fortunate to have shared the last wicket partnership in Barbados," Bedi said.

"Present day Indian cricketers can learn from him. His technique was superb and an average of 40 in 30 Test matches is just fantastic," Bedi said.

Former captain Nari Contractor expressed shock over the death of Sardesai whom he described as a very dear friend.

"In fact it was only on Tuesday last that I and Rajbhai (former BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur) had visited him at the Bombay hospital. I later spoke to his wife (Nandini) on Thursday and everything seemed fine," the former Test opener said.

"I have never captained Dilip at the Test level as on the 1961-62 tour of the West Indies I had to return home because of my injury (skull) and he played later (under Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi)," he said.

Contractor praised Sardesai as a very courageous batsman who "set out to do what was asked of him and did a pretty good job of it".

"In fact he played a very crucial role in India's Test series win in the West Indies (1971) when the chips were down", he recalled about Sardesai's splendid rear-guard action with fellow-Mumbaikar, late Eknath Solkar, in that series which rescued the Indian innings time and again.

"He was very outspoken and that's the reason he could not fit much in cricket management. He was blunt (in his opinion) which was not to the liking of some. But as a Mumbai selector he was the one who used to watch all the matches", Contractor recalled.

Former skipper Ajit Wadekar paid glowing tributes to his ex-Test and first-class teammate, and said India's historic wins over the West Indies and England in 1971 was largely due to Sardesai's stellar form.

"It was his double hundred in the first Test (against the West Indies) that gave us tremendous confidence and then he continued in that vein right through. That phase saw him at his best as a batsman. He almost reproduced that in England too," the ex-India captain said.

"It has been one long partnership lasting more than 15 years on the cricket field with Sardya. He used to call me Jitya. If we won the Test series in 1971 in the West Indies, 90 per cent of the credit belongs to Dilip," Wadekar said.

Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said Sardesai's death was a sad loss for Indian cricket.

"It's really sad. He has scored heavily for India and served the team with distinction for well over a decade," Vengsarkar said.

Spin great EAS Prasanna, a contemporary of Sardesai, mourned his former teammate's death.

"My and my family's condolence goes to his family. It's a great loss."

Sardesai's former teammate Abbas Ali Baig recalled the days when he used to share room with the batsman while playing abroad.

"We often shared rooms on tours. He was an excellent company and of course a fabulous batsman. Indian cricket will miss him a lot," Baig said.