By IANS
Mumbai : Former Test batsman Dilip Sardesai, whose ability to play long innings frustrated many a bowler, breathed his last in a hospital here Monday, his family announced. He was 66.
Sardesai turned out in 30 Tests between 1961 and 1972 and played a major role in India's twin series successes in the West Indies and England in 1971 under Ajit Wadekar.
He scored 2001 runs in his 30 Tests at an average of 39.23, with five centuries, including two double tons, and nine half-centuries.
Born on August 8, 1940, in Margao, Goa, Sardesai made his Test debut in December 1961 at Kanpur against England. His first Test, even before he had played first class cricket for Mumbai, was hardly memorable but his dogged defence against the pace of Tony Lock found him a place in the Indian team picked to tour the West Indies a few months later.
The right-handed Sardesai was best known for his sound batting technique, having bailed India out of trouble on numerous occasions.
His maiden Test hundred came in March 1965 when he scored an unbeaten 200 against New Zealand at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium. He followed it up with another century in the following Test at Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
Sardesai played a pivotal role in India's 1971 series win in the Caribbean, scoring 642 runs with the help for a double century and two centuries. But his feat on the tour was eclipsed by the arrival of one Sunil Manohar Gavaskar who captured the imagination of cricket fans all over the world on his debut series.
December 1972 was the last time Sardesai donned the India cap, again facing the Englishmen, this time led by Tony Lewis, in Delhi.
In first class cricket, Sardesai scored 10,230 runs in 179 matches at an average of 41.75 with a highest score of 222.