Calcutta: A popular saying in the late 80s and early 90s was: "It can't be that you are a resident of south Calcutta and you have not learnt your cricket under Gopal da".
Yes, former India player and Bengal captain Gopal Bose, who passed away at a Birmingham hospital on Sunday, was held in such high esteem by everyone in the cricketing fraternity.
From former India captain and Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly to present Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary everyone paid their tributes.
"Lost a very dear person today... Luckily he was with his entire family in Birmingham... Will miss him ... May his soul rest in peace," Sourav wrote on his Twitter handle.
"Sad 2 inform u al about the demise of our Very own Gopal sir. He was d member of the Indian Test team nd Captain of Bengal cricket and a great Coach as well in which he helped so many former Bengal players 2 achieve their best in cricket. May God help his soul... Rest in peace," Tiwary tweeted from Nagpur where the Bengal team is undergoing a preparatory camp.
India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha also took to Twitter to mourn Bose's demise. "RIP Gopal Sir. Saddened by the news of his passing away. My condolences to the family and relatives," he tweeted.
Former India wicketkeeper and Bengal captain Deep Dasgupta tweeted: "Shattered to hear about the demise of Gopal Bose, loved discussing cricket with him. Difficult to find a better student and a teacher of the game. You will be missed sir."
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also condoled Bose's demise through a media statement.
Sreevats Goswami, who was the member of the 2008 under-19 World Cup-winning squad where Bose was the team manager, remembered him as good soul. "We got a manager who knew cricket like the back of his hand. That helped us a lot. Also he was very lenient," Goswami said.
Sambaran Banerjee felt Bose did not get his due. "He had the talent to play a lot of Test matches and ODIs. He was a good all-rounder. He did not get his due. I still can't believe he is no more. I lost a big brother," Sambaran said.
Bose was the first cricketer from Bengal to play an ODI against England in 1974, which was incidentally only the second ODI that India played. He scored 13 runs in the match and took the wicket of David Lloyd at The Oval.
He was the manager of the Virat Kohli-led India U-19 team that won the colts' World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2008.
After a prolific 1973-74 season, during which he scored a big hundred for Rest of India in the Irani Cup, Bose was included for India's unofficial tour of Sri Lanka, where he scored a hundred and shared a 194-run opening stand with Sunil Gavaskar in the first 'Test'.
He was picked for India's 1974 tour to England and his struggles against the moving delivery meant that he didn't play a Test match on that tour. He was also picked in the squad for a 1975 Test match against the West Indies in Chennai when Gavaskar was injured, but the erstwhile selection committee decided to promote Eknath Solkar as Farokh Engineer's opening partner.
Bose never got a call-up thereafter.
However, he made a name for himself as one of the most respected coaches in Bengal with sharp insight. Some of the Bengal stars of later years like Ranadeb Bose, Devang Gandhi, and Avishek Jhunjhunwala learnt their cricket under Bose's tutelage.
Known to speak his mind, Bose was never a favourite with the establishment in Bengal cricket. It was only after Sourav became the CAB president that he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
