D. N. SARDESAI

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D. N. SARDESAI
(8 Aug 1940 - 2 Jul 2007) 

The only cricketer from Goa to play for India in Tests, Margao born Dilip Narayan Sardesai was a technically sound right-handed wristy specialist batsman with the ability to play both spin and pace with equal ease. He was the first Indian batsman to score a double century in an overseas Test, with his epic 212 at Kingston, Jamaica... 

Sardesai's Test debut in 1961, and his final game in 1972, both were against England at Kanpur and Delhi respectively...

In 30 Tests Sardesai scored 2001 runs @39.23 with 5 hundreds and 9 fifties, 212 as highest, and 4 catches...

Playing for Bombay and West Zone in the domestic circuit from 1961 to 1973, Sardesai scored 10,230 runs from 179 first class games @41.75 with 25 hundreds and 56 fifties, highest being 222, and 85 catches. Bombay won all the 10 finals they reached out of the 13 seasons that Sardesai played for them... 

Sardesai replaced Nari Contractor after the latter's near-fatal injury in the West Indies in 1961. His memorable performances include the 1963-64 five Test series with England scoring 449 runs and the home series against New Zealand in 1964-65 with a double century...

A spate of injuries and poor form saw Sardesai lose his place after two Tests in the Down Under tour of 1967-68. Selected again for the first Test at Bombay in 1969 against Bill Lawry's Australia, Sardesai failed to impress, and as India lost the Test so did Sardesai his spot once again...

Just when it seemed curtains down, chairman of the selection committee, Vijay Merchant, and captain, Ajit Wadekar, handpicked Sardesai for that memorable West Indies tour of 1971. The rest, as they say, is history, with Sardesai scoring 642 series runs and earning the sobriquet "Renaissance Man of Indian Cricket" from the chairman. His form continued as India won the Oval Test and series against Ray Illingworth's England in the same year...

Sardesai's final Test was at Delhi in the 1972 home series against skipper and debutante Tony Lewis's England. Though India came from behind to win the series after losing that Test, Sardesai never played for India again...

Sardesai was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award in 1970 for his immense contribution to Indian cricket... 

The Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of Goa, instituted the Dilip Sardesai Sports Excellence Award in 2009, which is given on the occasion of National Sports Day (29 August) to sportspersons from Goa who represented India at any international-level sports competition during the preceding year...

Sardesai passed away this day in Mumbai, 2007, after losing a battle against a chest infection and multiple organ failure. He was 67...

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