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ShareMumbai: Sunil Gavaskar is a treasure trove of stories. On Thursday, he fondly recounted some, remembering his long-time friend and India colleague Dilip Sardesai, at a memorial lecture on the latter's second death anniversary.
Organised by Sardesai's wife Nandini, a sociologist, and son Rajdeep, editor-in-chief of the CNN-IBN television news channel, it was an evening attended by the who's who of Mumbai cricket.
Remembering Sardesai, Gavaskar spoke of his batting prowess, his scouting and mentoring abilities, and of the indelible mark he left on all whom he met.
"He was a cricketer who helped me in my initial steps in international cricket and somebody who was always a friend, not just of me, but of all budding cricketers," he said. "Ask any budding cricketer and they would tell you that he was the one man who always encouraged. He was also very firm to any young man who was getting distracted and would always tell him to mind his ways."
Gavaskar recounted how as a school cricketer, he would watch Sardesai bat at the Hindu Gymkhana. "I would watch him, standing near the sightscreen because I wanted to see how he picked his bat, how his head was, how his balance was, see how his shoulder was leaning, I wanted to check the balance. I picked up a lot from him," he said.
The highlight of Sardesai's career was the 1971 Test series against the West Indies, where India registered their first win over the men from the Caribbean. Sardesai scored 642 runs in that series, with two hundreds and a double hundred, and came to be known as the Renaissance Man of Indian cricket.
Gavaskar spoke of how Sardesai grabbed the opportunities that came his way and also helped allay the fear of the WI fast bowlers among his teammates.
"In 1971, I wasn't playing the first Test because I was injured. Dilip got a chance to bat at number 4 because of an injury to Gundappa Vishwanath. West Indies opening bowlers were Vanburn Holder and Grayson Shillingford. Jayantilal and Abid Ali opened. Dilip was padded up and watching. We hadn't seen these two bowlers before. The first ball that Holder bowled was a bouncer, his loosener.
"It was one of those shiny pitches of Sabina Park. When the ball hit the deck, there was this sound as if somebody had clapped. After every ball that was banged in, there was a clapping sound. The wicketkeeper Findlay was gathering the ball almost shoulder high. I had never seen something like this in first class cricket. But Dilip, he looked relaxed. Hardly had Vanburn bowled four balls, then Dilip said... "Ehh.. ghanta fast bowler (implying useless fast bowler). "I had not seen anything like this before and here he was saying this. For Dilip, the Shillingfords and the Vanburn Holders and Gary Sobers, who came in first change, were not quick enough."
There were many such moments spoken and remembered about Dilip Sardesai, the only Goan cricketer to have played for India, who made Mumbai his home.
