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Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte (
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
: सुभाष गुप्ते) (; 11 December 1929 – 31 May 2002) was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers, EAS Prasanna and
Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorks ...
pronounced him the best
leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins fr ...
ner they had seen. 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. In the domestic arena, Gupte played for
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,
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
and
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...
in India and for
Rishton Rishton is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, about west of Clayton-le-Moors and north east of Blackburn. It was an urban district from about 1894 to 1974. The population at the census of 2011 was 6,625. History It ...
, Heywood and
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in the UK. He received the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, the highest honour bestowed by
BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...
on a former player.


Career

Gupte made his debut in 1951–52 and from the next season onward took over from
Vinoo Mankad Mulvantrai Himmatlal "Vinoo" Mankad (; 12 April 1917 – 21 August 1978) was a former Captain of Indian cricket team and appeared in 44 Test matches for India between 1946 and 1959. He was best known for his world record setting opening partn ...
as India's leading spinner. He was nicknamed after the West Indian leg spinner
Wilfred Ferguson Wilfred Ferguson (14 December 1917 – 23 February 1961) was a West Indian cricketer who played in eight Tests from 1947–48 to 1953–54. He played first-class cricket for Trinidad from 1943 to 1956. Career Ferguson was a leg-spin bowler and ...
. Gupte took 27 wickets in West Indies in 1952–53. At Kanpur in 1958–59, 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. In December 1954, while playing for Bombay against Pakistan Combined Services and Bahawalpur XI, he picked all ten wickets in an innings, returning figures of 10/78. In the process, he became the first Indian to take a ten-wicket haul in first-class cricket. He had a successful tour of Pakistan in 1954–55 claiming 21 wickets in the five-Test series. Gupte became the second bowler after
Vinoo Mankad Mulvantrai Himmatlal "Vinoo" Mankad (; 12 April 1917 – 21 August 1978) was a former Captain of Indian cricket team and appeared in 44 Test matches for India between 1946 and 1959. He was best known for his world record setting opening partn ...
to claim 100 Test wickets for India when he dismissed Rohan Kanhai in the Second Test of West Indies' 1958–59 tour of India. He picked 34 wickets in four Tests, as many as the combined total of all other bowlers, during New Zealand's 1955–56 India tour. He played his final Test series in Pakistan's 1960–61 tour of India when he appeared in first three Tests and claimed eight wickets. In August 1955, Gupte picked up his second ten-wicket haul in an innings (10/101), playing for
Rishton Rishton is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, about west of Clayton-le-Moors and north east of Blackburn. It was an urban district from about 1894 to 1974. The population at the census of 2011 was 6,625. History It ...
in the final of the Lancashire League Worsley Cup against
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. In June 1956, while playing against
Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
in the Lancashire League, he claimed two
hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...
in one innings returning figures of 8/19 in 7.3 overs.


Career-ending controversy

Gupte's international career ended under controversial circumstances during England's 1961–62 tour of India. During the Third Test at the
Feroz Shah Kotla The Feroz Shah Kotla or Kotla ("fortress", "citadel") was a fortress built circa 1354 by Feroz Shah Tughlaq to house his version of Delhi called Firozabad. A pristine polished sandstone Topra Ashokan pillar from the 3rd century BC rises from ...
in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, the team stayed at the Imperial hotel, where Gupte was housed in room number 7 along with teammate A. G. Kripal Singh. During the stay, a receptionist at the hotel lodged a complaint with the India team manager against inmates of that room accusing them of calling her over after her shift finished. The pair denied the allegation, with Gupte, who was married at the time, explaining that Singh had merely called and asked for drinks to be brought up. The matter was taken up by the authorities seriously before both were suspended from the team. Gupte later recollected that, M. A. Chidambaram, the
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
of the
BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...
during the time, did not give him a hearing in
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
, the venue of the Fourth Test, as promised. The hearing was eventually held in
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
where the selectors and the BCCI met to pick the squad for the tour of the Caribbean. Gupte was reprimanded by the BCCI secretary A. N. Ghosh for having not stopped Singh from making the call, to which he replied, "He is a big man. How can I stop him?". Both players were dropped from the squad for the tour and Gupte never played for India again. Gupte's 36-match Test career ended with 149 wickets at an
average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
of 29.55. In 1981/82, a benefit match was held for Gupte in Sharjah. In 2002, he named Australia's
Neil Harvey Robert Neil Harvey (born 8 October 1928) is an Australian former cricketer who was a member of the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement. A ...
as the "toughest batsman" he had bowled to.


Personal life

Gupte's brother
Baloo Baloo (from ''bhālū'' "bear") is a main fictional character featured in Rudyard Kipling's '' The Jungle Book'' from 1894 and '' The Second Jungle Book'' from 1895. Baloo, a sloth bear, is the strict teacher of the cubs of the Seeonee wolf pa ...
was also a leg spinner who played for India. Gupte met Carol at an official function during his successful 1952–53 tour of the Caribbean with India, which he finished claiming 50 first-class wickets. They married in the late 1950s he moved to Trinidad where his finished his career as a cricketer in 1964. They had a son named Anil, and daughter named Carolyn.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gupte, Subhash 1929 births 2002 deaths Cricketers from Mumbai Bengal cricketers Cricketers who have taken ten wickets in an innings Commonwealth XI cricketers Central Zone cricketers India Test cricketers Indian cricketers Indian Universities cricketers Indian emigrants to Trinidad and Tobago Mumbai cricketers Rajasthan cricketers South Trinidad cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers