Goa-born cricketer
Dilip Sardesai dead
Sandesh Prabhudesai
2 July 2007
Goa-born former India cricketer Dilip Narayan Sardesai passed
away in Mumbai on Monday evening due to multiple organ failure.
He was 66.
He was admitted to Bombay Hospital with a chest infection
on June 23.
Born in Margao at Malbhat, Sardesai had shifted to Mumbai
to make his career after passing out SSC at New Era Highschool.
He had also played for Margao Cricket Club, while in Goa.
He has built a bungalow in Goa at Nerul, where he used to
come down frequently.
One of India's the most prolific openers in an era dominated
by England, Australia and West Indies, Sardesai made his Test
debut in the 1961-62 season.
Sardesai broke into the Indian cricket scene during an inter-university
tournament in 1959-60, scoring 435 runs.
Being the only Goa-born cricketer to play for India, Sardesai
played 30 Test matches between 1961 to 1972.
Having made 2,001 runs in this period at an average of nearly
40, Sardesai hit five Test hundreds and nine half-centuries.
The pinnacle of his career came in the West Indies in 1971
when India won a historic series 1-0. He made 642 runs in
the series which included two centuries and a double hundred.
Sardesai was also part of 15 consecutive Ranji Trophy winning
teams with Mumbai, a record that has stood the test of time
so far.
He played 179 first class matches, scoring 10,230 runs.
He is survived by wife Nandini Sardesai, a sociologist and
a member of the Indian Censor Board, son Rajdeep Sardesai,
the Editor-in-Chief of CNN-IBN and daughter Shonali, presently
working on conflict related issues at the World Bank in Washington
DC.
Chief minister Digambar Kamat, his neighbour at Malbhat,
expressed deep grief over Sardesai's sad demise. "I have
lost a good friend while India has lost a prolific cricketer",
he said in a condolence message.
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