New Delhi: It was in the late 1960s, Dilip Doshi used to be a terror for batters in the Indian university circuit when his Calcutta University and later Bengal Ranji teammate late Gopal Bose had asked him, “It’s fine you get university batters out but can you get Garry Sobers out?” Doshi apparently was nonchalant as ever and said matter-of-factly, “Yeah, I can.”In fact, he did dismiss Sobers in a World XI match few years later but more importantly played alongside the West Indian legend in English County in Nottinghamshire for a number of seasons.And in 1991 when Doshi’s autobiography ‘Spin Punch’ was published, it was Sir Gary Sobers who wrote the foreword: “Dilip Doshi has an immeasurable knowledge to pass on to those who want to follow his path into professional cricket. He has played at all levels over the world and there can be no one more qualified to talk about the art of spin bowling.”It was quite a heartwarming tribute from the greatest of them all but like many mysteries in Indian cricket, one can never really decode why Doshi’s expertise was never sought by the BCCI.Impossible wasn’t a word in Doshi’s dictionary or else in those days of late 70s, he couldn’t have eclipsed Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel to make his Test debut at 32 and still get more than 100 Test wickets, playing mostly on flat and dead tracks.Doshi had great success on Indian tracks but it was the tour of Australia in 1980-81 where he picked up 11 wickets (6 in Adelaide and 5 in Melbourne) in more than 150-plus overs on non-responsive pitches. His scalps included Greg Chappell, Doug Walters, Rod Marsh, Kim Hughes, among others.His bowling was not a poetry in motion like the great Bishan Singh Bedi, neither was it dart like accuracy that was Padmakar Shivalkar’s forte. Doshi was somewhere in between the two.He could flight the ball, had a lovely loop and even when he wasn’t turning the ball square, he could pitch it on same length ball after ball, creating doubts in batter’s mind about how much it would turn or straighten or go in with the angle.’Dilip Da’, as he was known in Bengal cricket circles, believed in continuity — whether pitching countless deliveries on same length or listening to Rolling Stones for 50 years and being one of Mick Jagger’s closest buddies for nearly five decades.What became his impediment was batting, as he could easily have been No. 11 in a squad of ‘No. 11 batters’. And, his fielding was an apology.Hence, when there’s a slight dip in form, the cricket establishment at that time knew whom to get rid of.It was the 1982-83 tour of Pakistan where Javed Miandad really took his mickey.Sunil Gavaskar often recollected how Miandad, in his slurry Hindi-Urdu, would sledge Doshi.”Ae Dilip, tela loom number kya hai (Dilip what’s your room number),” Miandad would play a forward defence and ask.When Doshi asked, “why?”, he said: “Teleko wahi six maroonga.” (I would hit you for a six there).Doshi’s exit was pretty bitter as he played his last Test in 1983, also against Pakistan in a drawn Test in Bengaluru and he got Wasim Raja’s wicket in a rain-affected match.However, in his no-holds-barred autobiography ‘Spin Punch’, he didn’t pull back punches while narrating how things unfolded before his final Test.”Bishan Bedi, who was the North Zone selector for India, was also managing the Indian team. I found the atmosphere hostile and I couldn’t help but feel it was because of my recall. My captain, Kapil Dev, greeted me with warmth and wished me luck. Somewhere in the hotel lobby the deposed captain Gavaskar was moving around with a heavy face. He was the only person in the team who didn’t wish me or exchange a word with me,” Doshi wrote on page number 180.”The evening before the Test, Bedi drew me aside at a private party, repeatedly told me that I was lucky to be recalled and that I should react by taking five wickets in justification. I was appalled and I commented that all I could do was to try my best, but how could I guarantee the wickets?,” he further wrote.How angry Doshi was on Bedi could be gauged from next the paragraph.”I asked him (Bedi) if he had ever guaranteed the number of wickets that he would take in an innings. Did he himself know of such pressure in his playing days that he was trying to exert on me? Not a very healthy return to Test cricket.””On the field I noticed that Kapil Dev was not fully relaxed and he kept on telling me, you must take five wickets to keep people from talking. I knew exactly who and what he meant and realised that my inclusion in the team was upsetting the calculations of others in power.”That was the last of Doshi in India colours although he played couple of more seasons — for Bengal and then Saurashtra till 1985-86 before permanently migrating to England where he has a flourishing business. His company brought signature Mont Blanc pens to India.Doshi believed he could have played at least a couple of years more and that angst was there with him.But he was loyal soldier of Indian cricket in those four years.For every Kapil Dev that Indian cricket was blessed with, it was very important that there was a Dilip Doshi to complement him.
Source link
