Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the

drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" ...

. Along with

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

and

Gundappa Viswanath Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath (born 12 February 1949) is a former Indian cricketer. Vishwanath was rated as one of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s. Viswanath played Test cricket for India from 1969 to 1983, making 91 appearances an ...

, he was a key player in the Indian batting line up in the late 70s and early 80s. He went on to play until 1992. At the pinnacle of his career, Vengsarkar was rated as the best batsman in the Coopers and Lybrand rating (a predecessor of the PWC ratings) and he held the number one slot for 21 months until 2 March 1989.

Career

Vengsarkar made his international cricket debut against New Zealand at

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in 1975–76 as an opening batsman. India won this Test convincingly, but he did not have much success. Later on he usually batted in the No.3 or No.4 position. He played a memorable inning in 1979 against Asif Iqbal's Pakistan team in the 2nd Test at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. Requiring 390 to win on the final day, he led India's chase getting the team very close to a victory. India ended up with 364 for 6, just 26 runs short of what would have been a remarkable win. With Yashpal Sharma,

Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by ''Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Centu ...

and

Roger Binny Roger Michael Humphrey Binny (born 19 July 1955) is an Indian former international cricketer who is the 36th and incumbent List of presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, president of Board of Control for Cricket in India. He wa ...

back to the pavilion after the Tea break, Vengsarkar saw himself running out of partners and decided to play the last few overs for a draw. He remained unbeaten on 146. During the 1978–79 Test Series in India against the West Indies, he was involved in a partnership of over 300 runs with

at Calcutta, with both batsman scoring centuries. He was a member of the 1983 World Champion's team. He had a productive run of scores between 1985 and 1987, where he scored centuries against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, Australia, England,

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, many of them in successive games. While the West Indies pacemen dominated the cricket world, Dilip Vengsarkar was one of the few batsmen who was successful against them, and scored 6 centuries against the likes of

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket. ...

Michael Holding Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering Dea ...

and Andy Roberts. He is currently team mentor and coach for Telugu Warrior team in the Celebrity Cricket League Season 5. He also scored a century at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1986, thus scoring consecutive

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

centuries at Lord's in three matches.

Captaincy

Vengsarkar took over the captaincy from

after the

1987 Cricket World Cup The 1987 Cricket World Cup (officially known as the Reliance Cup 1987 for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth Cricket World Cup. It was held from 8 October to 8 November 1987 in India and Pakistan – the first such tournament to be held outsid ...

, despite criticism that he missed the semi-final match due to a stomach disorder resulting from a seafood allergy. Although he started with two centuries in his first series as captain, his captaincy period was turbulent and he lost the job following a disastrous tour of the West Indies in early 1989 and a stand-off with the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

Awards

* Vengsarkar was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

for his on-field performances in 1981 * For his contribution to the Indian cricket the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

decorated him with the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

honour in 1987. *

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1987 * Vengsarkar was awarded the CK Naidu Lifetime Achievement award by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Administrator

After retiring, Vengsarkar started the Elf-Vengsarkar Academy in 1995. He became the vice-president of the Mumbai Cricket Association in 2003. Although, he was the front runner for the post of the Chairman, Selection Committee, Dilip opted out because of his policy against zonal representation. He was appointed the Chairman of the

Talent Resource Development Wing The Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW, sometimes also called Talent Resource Development Scheme (TRDS)) was an initiative of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to spot local talent, looking beyond the established cricketing cent ...

when it was created in 2002 to develop cricket talent within the country. Presently he is Chief Adviser of the Cricket Association of Telangana (CAT). In March 2006, the BCCI proposed Vengsarkar as a match referee, but the proposal did not move forward as Vengsarkar accepted the job as chairman of selectors of the BCCI later in the year. He runs three cricket academies, two in Mumbai and one in Pune. These academies give training free of charge to players selected on their skill level.

In popular culture

A Bollywood film '' 83'' released in 2021 about the events around India's first World Cup win, at Lords in 1983, features

Adinath Kothare Adinath Kothare (born 13 May 1984) is an Indian actor, producer, and director, who predominantly works in Marathi films. His directorial debut film, 'Paani,' won the 'National Film Award for Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation' ...

as Vengsarkar.

References

External links

Wonderful Vengsarkar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vengsarkar, Dilip India Test cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Test cricket captains Mumbai cricketers West Zone cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Indian cricket administrators Marathi people Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports 1956 births Living people People from Ratnagiri district Cricketers from Maharashtra Recipients of the Arjuna Award India national cricket team selectors Staffordshire cricketers Indian Universities cricketers Indian cricket coaches