Subhash Gupte
Encyclopedia
Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte (11 December 1929 in Bombay, India
– 31 May 2002, Port of Spain
, Trinidad and Tobago
) was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers
. Sir Garry Sobers
pronounced him the best leg spin
ner that it had been his pleasure to see. http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/238823.html
Gupte flighted and spun the ball sharply, and possessed two different googlies
. The West Indians who toured India in 1958/9 reckoned that Gupte could turn the ball on glass. His only drawback perhaps was that he tended to lose confidence when the batsmen attacked his bowling.
He made his debut in 1951/2 and from the next season onward took over from Vinoo Mankad as India's leading spinner. He was nicknamed after the West Indian leg spinner Wilfred Ferguson
. Gupte took 27 wickets in West Indies in 1952/3 and 34 against New Zealand at home in 1955/6. At Kanpur in 1958/9, he took nine West Indian wickets in an innings for 102 runs, and had Lance Gibbs
- the only batsman he missed - dropped by wicket keeper Naren Tamhane
. He once took all ten wickets in an innings for Bombay against Bahawalpur CC, and once in Lancashire league for Rishton.
His career ended in unfortunate circumstances in 1961/2. The Indian team was staying at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi during the Test against England. A.G. Kripal Singh, Gupte's roommate, called up the receptionist and tried to fix a date with her. She complained to the Indian manager.
Since the board had already made up their minds of punishing both the players, Gupte was reprimanded by one of the board members for not stopping Kripal from using the hotel phone. Utterly disgusted by the suggestion, he responded with barely disguised indignation. "He is a big man. How can I stop him?"
"Nothing had happened," Gupte reflected. "Kripal had not raped the girl or assaulted her, he just asked her out for a drink. Ultimately, the board took the decision that neither player should be considered for the subsequent West Indies tour.
Gupte, who was only 32 at that time and had taken 149 wickets at 29.55 in 36 Tests, never played for India again and instead went to Trinidad and settled there, where he had married a local girl two years earlier. He even played a few first class matches for them.
Mihir Bose
, in his famous book History of Indian Cricket sarcastically summed up Gupte’s career as thus: "India`s first great spinner ended his career because he happened to share a room with a man who wanted a drink with a girl."
In 1981/2, a benefit match was held for Gupte in Sharjah.
His brother Baloo Gupte
was also a leg spinner who played for India.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
– 31 May 2002, Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
) was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers
Spin bowling
Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...
. Sir Garry Sobers
Garfield Sobers
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers AO, OCC is a former cricketer who captained West Indies. His first name of Garfield is variously abbreviated as Gary or Garry. He is widely regarded as one of cricket's greatest ever all-rounders, having excelled at all the essential skills of batting, bowling and...
pronounced him the best leg spin
Leg spin
Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action, causing the ball to spin from right to left in the cricket pitch, at the point of delivery. When the ball bounces, the spin causes the ball to deviate sharply from right to left, that...
ner that it had been his pleasure to see. http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/238823.html
Gupte flighted and spun the ball sharply, and possessed two different googlies
Googly
In cricket, a googly is a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is occasionally referred to as a Bosie , an eponym in honour of its inventor Bernard Bosanquet.- Explanation :...
. The West Indians who toured India in 1958/9 reckoned that Gupte could turn the ball on glass. His only drawback perhaps was that he tended to lose confidence when the batsmen attacked his bowling.
He made his debut in 1951/2 and from the next season onward took over from Vinoo Mankad as India's leading spinner. He was nicknamed after the West Indian leg spinner Wilfred Ferguson
Wilfred Ferguson
Wilfred Ferguson was a West Indian cricketer who played in eight Tests from 1947-48 to 1953-54....
. Gupte took 27 wickets in West Indies in 1952/3 and 34 against New Zealand at home in 1955/6. At Kanpur in 1958/9, he took nine West Indian wickets in an innings for 102 runs, and had Lance Gibbs
Lance Gibbs
Lancelot Richard Gibbs is a former West Indies cricketer, one of the most successful spin bowlers in Test cricket history. He took 309 Test wickets, only the second player to pass 300, the first spinner to pass that milestone, and had an exceptional economy rate of under two runs per over...
- the only batsman he missed - dropped by wicket keeper Naren Tamhane
Naren Tamhane
Narendra Shankar Tamhane was an Indian cricketer who played in twenty one Tests from 1955 to 1960.He was a wicketkeeper batsman....
. He once took all ten wickets in an innings for Bombay against Bahawalpur CC, and once in Lancashire league for Rishton.
His career ended in unfortunate circumstances in 1961/2. The Indian team was staying at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi during the Test against England. A.G. Kripal Singh, Gupte's roommate, called up the receptionist and tried to fix a date with her. She complained to the Indian manager.
Since the board had already made up their minds of punishing both the players, Gupte was reprimanded by one of the board members for not stopping Kripal from using the hotel phone. Utterly disgusted by the suggestion, he responded with barely disguised indignation. "He is a big man. How can I stop him?"
"Nothing had happened," Gupte reflected. "Kripal had not raped the girl or assaulted her, he just asked her out for a drink. Ultimately, the board took the decision that neither player should be considered for the subsequent West Indies tour.
Gupte, who was only 32 at that time and had taken 149 wickets at 29.55 in 36 Tests, never played for India again and instead went to Trinidad and settled there, where he had married a local girl two years earlier. He even played a few first class matches for them.
Mihir Bose
Mihir Bose
Mihir Bose also referred to as Spermy ,is a British Indian sportswriter and journalist, who was the BBC's sports editor until 4 August 2009.-Early life:...
, in his famous book History of Indian Cricket sarcastically summed up Gupte’s career as thus: "India`s first great spinner ended his career because he happened to share a room with a man who wanted a drink with a girl."
In 1981/2, a benefit match was held for Gupte in Sharjah.
His brother Baloo Gupte
Baloo Gupte
Balkrishna Pandharinath 'Baloo' Gupte was a former Indian cricketer. He was a leg-spinner. He made his debut under Nari Contractor in 1960-61 against Pakistan led by Fazal Mahmood at the Corporation Stadium in Madras . He played three Tests for India between 1960-61 and 1964-65...
was also a leg spinner who played for India.