Dilip helped bring about a renaissance in Indian cricket: Gavaskar

Paying tribute to former Indian batting great Dilip Sardesai, who passed away on Monday, former captain Sunil Gavaskar today said that Dilip helped bring about a renaissance in Indian cricket.

Dubai, July 3 : Paying tribute to former Indian batting great Dilip Sardesai, who passed away on Monday, former captain Sunil Gavaskar today said that 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," Gavaskar, who is the Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, said in a statement.

He said that Sardesai was a great influence on him as a player and someone he always looked up to.

"He was a very popular member of the team and a bit of a prankster. He was great fun to have around the dressing room and he always lifted the spirits. I was lucky to have him there when I first broke into the Indian side in 1971," said Gavaskar, who also hails from Sardesai's home city of Mumbai.

"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. It is very sad and I want to pass my condolences to his family at this difficult time but they should know that Dilip will always be remembered as one of the important men of Indian cricket," he added.

In the 1970-71 tour of the West Indies, Sardesai scored a total of 642 runs at an average of 80.25, including a magnificent 212 in the first Test at Sabina Park.

In 30 Tests between 1961 and 1972, Sardesai scored 2,001 runs at an average of 39.23, including five hundreds with that innings of 212 in Jamaica as his highest score.

ANI