Dilip Sardesai

Calcutta: Sunil Gavaskar paid a glowing tribute to Dilip Sardesai, who had been nearing the end of his career when the Little Master was a youngster making his way into cricket. The 67-year-old Sardesai died of multiple organ failure at the Bombay Hospital on Monday night. His last rites were performed by his noted TV journalist son Rajdeep on Tuesday.

The chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, Gavaskar, remembered Sardesai as a man who made an enormous contribution to the game and also made his own transition to the Test arena as smooth as possible, according to an ICC release.

Tributes also poured in from other former cricketers. Following are excerpts:

SUNIL GAVASKAR: Dilip helped bring about a renaissance in Indian cricket. My first Test was in the West Indies in 1971 when Dilip was perhaps at his very best. He showed us how to play fast bowling and in doing so gave us the confidence we needed to beat the West Indies.

One of his great strengths was that he was always very positive and he spread that through the team. He had a great influence on me as a player and he was someone I always looked up to. He was a very popular member of the team and a bit of a prankster.

Two years ago, another of the greats, Eknath Solkar, passed away, and I think Indian cricket is much poorer for the loss of these two giants of our game.

KENIA JAYANTILAL: He played like a king. In the first Test, his double century came after we had lost five early wickets. Later, in Barbados, we were again five or six down when he scored 212 (Sardesai’s career best in Tests). Dilip was a tremendous player of spin bowling and as a teammate he was very good. He and (Late) M.L. Jaisimha used to guide Ajit (Wadekar) in his captaincy. He played big roles in the Test series wins in both west indies and in England later that year.

BAPU NADKARNI: I have lost a very dear and personal friend. We were mates at the Gymkhana (P.J. Hindu), ACC (Associated Cement Co.), Mumbai and then India. I can only say a lovely stroke-player of our era is gone. The last time I met him was at the CCI during a function. He was all right then. We — Dilip, Nari (Contractor), Rajbhai (Raj Singh Dungarpur) and I — recalled old days and memories.

DILIP VENGSARKAR: It’s really sad. He has scored heavily for India and served the team with distinction for well over a decade.

AJIT WADEKAR: It has been one long partnership lasting more than 15 years on the cricket field with Sardya. He used to call me Jitya. If we won the Test series in 1971 in the West Indies, 90 per cent of the credit belongs to him. It was his double hundred in the first Test that gave us tremendous confidence and then he continued in that vein right through.

That phase saw him at his best as a batsman. He almost reproduced that in England too. I can’t count on my fingers the number of partnerships we have put on (for India and Mumbai). He gave me useful tips when I led the side. It was unfortunate he was not a regular member of the team when he was in his prime (in the later part of the 1960s).

It’s however unfortunate that the BCCI did not utilise his knowledge either as a selector or a manager.