Feisty competitor who deserved more respect

DILIP DOSHI (1947-2025)

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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.”

Infact, 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.”