Dilip Doshi's demise came as a shock to me, as well as many fellow cricketers and fans. I have played a lot of cricket with Doshi bhai, and I have lost a dear friend.
A complete team man, no matter the number of matches or the kind of opponents he faced, Doshi gave more than 100 per cent every time. Doesn't matter what level he was playing, his dedication remained the same. Not once did he relax on the field.
He made his India debut at the age of 32. It is difficult for a player to make a debut well into his 30's as the quality of cricket was good world over. Unlike today, there were no fitness gurus at that time and it was incredible to make his debut past 30 and then to go and take more than 100 Test wickets (114).
Back then, with Bish (Bishan Singh Bedi), Pras (EAS Prasanna), Chandra (BS Chandrasekhar) and Venkat (S Venkataraman) around, no other spinner could dream of playing for India. We all knew Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel were good enough to play for India but never got the chance because of the spin quartet. Luckily for Doshi bhai, he got a chance when Bish retired.
A left-arm spinner with a classical action, Doshi showed his class and proved his mettle every time he walked out to play for India. He was very accurate and bowled tight lines, not giving batters any width. People fondly remember the match against Australia where he took eight wickets (in 1979, Mumbai) and Kiri bhai (Syed Kirmani) scored a century; I also scored some runs (86) as we registered an innings victory.
Doshi played a big role in that win. In Australia, when we beat them at the MCG two years later, he sent down 72 overs and took five wickets. At that time we had Kapil Dev, Madan Lal and myself. Madan, Kapil and myself, we were like Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan — all medium-pacers. When you have a good fast bowling attack, they bowl most of the overs and then spinners come and operate. To perform and consistently play for the team having such a good bowling attack was remarkable.
The sheer numbers alone speak volumes of his class. The fact that he has taken 898 wickets in first-class cricket is mind blowing. He played for Bengal and Saurashtra in Ranji Trophy and went on to play for Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire in County cricket. He was close to Gary Sobers, from whom he learnt a trick or two. Sobers was a complete cricketer as he could turn the ball better than offie Lance Gibbs and bowl quicker than Wes Hall. So Sober's association helped Doshi to play as a professional cricketer in England.
Doshi had a nice life after retirement. Off the field, Doshi was a top-class businessman who brought Mont Blanc pens to India in the 1990s. His circle of friends were all big ones. I mean apart from Sobers, he was close to The Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger and several other celebrities in England.
Alas, we lost a true friend and one of the most inspirational spinners to play for India.
As told to Ashok Venugopal.
898 — Number of first-class wickets taken by Dilip Doshi
