Tony Becca

WHENEVER THE history, the full history of Indian cricket is written, the name Dilip Sardesai may, regrettably, be nothing, but a footnote.

The reason for that is simply because the history of Indian cricket is filled with great players - with bowlers such as Vinoo Mankad and Subhash Gupte, Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Bishen Bedi, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, with batsmen like Vijay Hazare, Vijay Merchant, Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid and with an all-rounder such as Kapil Dev.

Although he may not be remembered in such illustrious company, Sardesai from Mumbai, the man who played in 30 Testmatches and scored 2,001 runs with five centuries, played some of the most important innings in the history of Indian cricket.

Opening batsman

Against New Zealand in Mumbai in 1964-65, he turned up, as an opening batsman, with 200 not out in 548 minutes to draw the match after his team was routed for 88 in the first innings, and in the following Test match in Delhi scored a blistering 106 in 140 minutes with 18 boundaries at the start of the innings to lead India to victory.

But for Sardesai, India, who defeated the West Indies and then England during that time, would never have been able to boast that for a time, for the year 1971, they were, probably, the best team in the world.

In 116 Test matches from 1932 to 1970, India had won only three outside of the subcontinent.

In eight Test matches in 1971, however, five versus the West Indies and three against England, they won two and lost none. They won both series and if you had listened to or read all the praise showered on the team you would have been forgiven if you believed that it was all due to the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar, to the bowling of spinners Venkat, Prasanna, Bedi and Chandrasekhar, and to the batting of Gavaskar.

As well as Wadekar led the team, however, as brilliantly as Venkat, Prasanna and Bedi bowled, and as magnificently as Gavaskar batted in his first series, India rode to victory against the West Indies on the back of Sardesai - just as they did a few months later when Chandrasekhar captured six wickets in the second innings, Saredesai, with 54 and 40 in a low-scoring match, paced them to victory by four wickets.

In the opening match at Sabina Park, for example, Gavaskar was injured and absent. India, referred to as a club side before the start of the match, were reeling at 13 for two and then at 75 for five on the opening day before Sardesai, with a little help from Eknath Solkar, rescued them with a memorable innings of 212.

After being forced to follow on, embarrassingly so, the West Indies, thanks to Rohan Kanhai with 158 not out, held on for a draw.

In the second match at Queen's Park Oval, the one which India won to take the series, Sardesai, with 112, scored the only century of the match, and in the fourth Test at Kensington Oval, with the West Indies trying desperately to win it to level the series, India were 64 for four and then 70 for six replying to the West Indies 501 before Sardesai, again with some help from Solkar, steadied them with a solid innings of 150 and carried them to a draw.

Dilip Sardesai probably did not play enough Test matches; he probably did not score enough runs; his average was probably not high enough and his tally of five centuries was probably not good enough for him to be numbered among India's elite cricketers.

Finest player in finest hour

In India's finest hour, however, he was their finest player - the one who, certainly against the West Indies, set the stage by beating back the West Indies when they were running hot and on the attack; the one who snatched the important victory, and the one who kept the West Indies at bay when they again flexed their muscles and were fighting to save face.

I still remember that innings at Sabina Park, as well as leg-spinner Arthur Barrett bowled (one for 86 off 35 overs), I still remember Sardesai chipping and driving and the ball landing in the press box behind the bowler. I can still remember 1978 when I accompanied Vanburn Holder on a visit to Sardesai's home in Mumbai. I can still remember asking him how he played Barrett so easily and I can still remember the twinkle in his eyes when he said, "Tony, in this country, in my country, bowlers like Barrett are a dime a dozen."

After finding a partner in Solkar, after steadying the ship, Sardesai's drives, on both sides of the wicket, and his cuts on that day at Sabina Park, were worth a pocketful of dollars.

Walk good, my friend. Through your bat, through your laughter, your personality, you have left an indelible mark on the game.