Dilip Sardesai

The 1970-71 West Indies tour was the last chance for Dilip Sardesai. He was lucky to be picked - it had looked as if his career was dead and buried - he went on to be Indian cricket's Renaissance Man in the watershed year of 1971. A technically correct player, the solid, wristy Sardesai was proficient against spin, but in West Indies he showed his mettle against pace, and pulled India repeatedly out of quicksand. He scored 642 runs, with two single hundreds and a double, and provided an inspirational launching-pad for a legend - Sunil Gavaskar, in his first series. In England later in 1971, Sardesai's pivotal double of 54 and 40 allowed Chandrasekhar to hasten England's defeat at The Oval. Sardesai was limpet-like and usually defensive, but he could attack when he needed to, and scored one of India's fastest hundreds, against New Zealand at Delhi in 1964-65. In the previous Test, his 200 not out at Bombay salvaged a draw after India had been skittled for 88 in the innings. Sardesai enjoyed playing against England: he made his Test debut against them in 1961-62, even before he'd played for Bombay, and it was against England, at Kanpur two years later, that he scored 79 and, after India followed on, 87 to help save the game.
H Natarajan