Former Team India spinner Dilip Doshi passes away at 77

Dilip Doshi. Picture Courtesy/BCCI`s X

Former Team India spinner Dilip Doshi, who made his path despite the Indian team having the likes of Bishan Singh Bedi, passed away due to cardiac arrest in London on Monday, the Saurashtra Cricket Association said.

Making his Test debut in 1979 after Bedi's retirement, Doshi played his last of the 33 matches in 1983.

In those matches, he claimed 114 wickets with six five-wicket hauls and was exceptional at home during the first three seasons. He took just 28 Test matches to reach the feat of 100 wickets.

One of his memorable performances came when he bagged five wickets in India's Test triumph at the MCG in 1981, when the visitors defended the target.

The veteran played with a fractured toe and was literally unplayable on the MCG track. Doshi, Karsan Ghavri and Kapil Dev were the players who won the game for India.

He also shone brightly in English county cricket for more than a decade. He had earlier represented Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire.

"Dilip bhai suffered a heart attack in London. He is no more," Saurashtra CA president Jaydev Shah told PTI. "Dilip's passing away is a personal loss to me. He was like a family. He was one of the finest human beings," former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said.

In the Indian domestic circuit, he played for Bengal and Saurashtra. In all he had a staggering 898 first-class scalps with 43 five-fors. He was Bengal's go-to man in the Ranji Trophy for years.

While Bedi remains India's greatest left-arm spinner, Doshi was one of the most accurate bowlers who would flight the ball when required and was very accurate for the better part of his career.

The touring Australian, English and West Indies teams found it difficult to handle his arm balls, and it was Javed Miandad, who actually hastened his exit from international cricket during the 1982-83 series against Pakistan.

The bespectacled cricketer was a gentleman to the core. Miandad would often tease him by enquiring about his room number in the middle of the game. "Ae Dilip tela loom number kya hai," Miandad would ask in a slurry tone. His batting and fielding in those days wasn't top notch but in that era he could survive because his bowling was from top drawer.

He was a close friend of Sunil Gavaskar and the legend was first introduced to his wife Marshaniel by Doshi. After retirement, he had migrated to London where he became a successful businessman. He would divide his time between London, Mumbai and Rajkot, and it was quite strange that the BCCI never bothered to use Doshi's expertise.

Former India captain Anil Kumble was among the first to pay his tribute to the late cricketer. "Heartbreaking to hear about Dilip bhai's passing. May God give strength to his family and friends to bear this loss. Nayan, thinking of you buddy," Kumble wrote on X.

(With PTI Inputs)