Dilip Vengsarkar

Dilip Vengsarkar Biography

He was the best batsman of the world for a considerable while, a claim made by the then recently released computer ratings and underlined by his almost Bradmanesque run in the mid-1980s. During that decade, Dilip Vengsarkar was without doubt the best batsman of India, and that is in spite of the divine pedestal on which Sunil Gavaskar had already been placed.

To be the world’s best in the mid-1980s meant surpassing the feats of Allan Border, Viv Richards, Javed Miandad, David Gower, Martin Crowe, Gordon Greenidge and others, apart from Gavaskar himself. And from a large period between 1983 and 1987, Vengsarkar towered over this elite group, by some distance, all except Border by some 20 runs per innings.

It was a pity that he was way too professional and low-key to achieve absolute stardom in India. Vengsarkar’s mastery ended at the wicket. Neither did he strut about larger than life, nor did this tongue-tied stammering stalwart entertain the media with his views.

It has been said that if Gower been born Indian and Vengsarkar an Englishman, they would have been national symbols. Gower’s frivolous artistry made him enormously popular in India, but the English viewed him with suspicion. Vengsarkar’s low-key professionalism and ‘introvert’ tag jarred with the Indian image of the superstar, but was the blueprint for English acceptance.

His claims to captaincy were also ignored for many a year before an amazing run with the bat left the selectors little choice. Somehow, even fate conspired to keep him away from focus. Vengsarkar was a regular in the side for 16 years. Two of the very few matches that he missed turned out to be monumental — the triumphant World Cup final of 1983 and the Tied Test of 1986-87.

A gawky youngster who shot into prominence by scoring a swashbuckling hundred against Bishan Bedi and EAS Prasanna in the Irani Trophy, Vengsarkar remained the plinth of the Indian middle-order for a decade and a half. A superb player of the drive, especially through the covers and between mid-on and mid-wicket, he was the picture of elegance at the crease.

To watch Vengsarkar at his best, it was required to load the playing field with seemingly insurmountable challenges. He was at his best while battling the West Indian pace battery or scoring hundreds on wickets that saw the rest of the batsmen struggle to eke out means of survival. While his three hundreds at Lord’s are still remembered with awe, perhaps his best innings in England were 61 and 102 not out at Headingley in 1986, when the conditions rendered batting almost impossible, and thus caught our man at his best. His highest score was made on a minefield at Cuttack.

A decline in form and fitness towards the final few years dimmed the sheen of his achievements, but 6,868 Test runs with 17 centuries spoke eloquently about his immense class. In his early days he was also an outstanding fielder at bat-pad.

Arunabha Sengupta

Dilip Vengsarkar Batting & Fielding Averages

Career	M	In	R	NO	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
Test	116	185	6868	22	166	42.13	12065	56.92	17	35	581	--	78	0
ODIs	129	120	3508	19	105	34.73	5179	67.73	1	23	227	17	37	0
T20s	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	11	10	252	3	63*	36.00	332	75.90	0	1	14	4	3	0

Dilip Vengsarkar Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	116	47	36	0	--	4.595	--	0	0	0/3	0/3
ODIs	129	6	4	0	--	4.000	--	0	0	0/3	0/3
T20s	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	11	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		0/3

Dilip Vengsarkar Career statistics

News ON Dilip Vengsarkar

Sourav Ganguly Had No Business to Speak on Virat Kohli-Team India Captaincy Row: Dilip Vengsarkar Slams BCCI President

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Not Devdutt Padikkal or Arshdeep Singh; Dilip Vengsarkar Wants BCCI Selectors to Pick Ruturaj Gaikwad

Vengsarkar also recalled taking Ruturaj Gaikwad to England when 16 and scored hundreds in most of the games.

Hope Virat Kohli Wins T20 World Cup & Signs Off as India T20I Captain on High: Dilip Vengsarkar

Dilip Vengsarkar picked Rohit Sharma to take the captaincy charge from Virat Kohli after T20 World Cup.

Mohammed Siraj Hasn’t Looked Back Since Australia Tour: Dilip Vengsarkar

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World Cup Countdown: 1987 – Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar take field together

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World Cup Countdown: 1979 – Associate nation Sri Lanka stun India

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Indian Test triumphs in England, Part 3: The Dilip Vengsarkar show at Headingley, 1986

England scored 230 runs across innings in the Test, less than India's scores of 272 and 237. It was only the fifth time in history that ...

Indian Test triumphs in England, Part 2: Lord’s conquered at last, 1986

India had drawn two and lost eight of their first 10 Tests at Lord's. This was their 11th attempt.

The V’s: Solid batting, quality bowling, two mammoth names

Composing one from the cricketers with their last names starting with V, CricketCountry Arunabha Sengupta finds himself forced to leave ...

India’s 500th Test and the unfortunate Dilip Vengsarkar

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