Google celebrates Dilip Sardesai's birthday with a creative doodle

picture courtesy: google.com

Often regarded as India's best ever batsman against spin bowling, Google celebrated Dilip Sardesai's 78th birthday with a doodle.

Sardesai made his first mark in cricket in the inter-university Rohinton Baria Trophy in 1959-60 where he made 435 runs at an average of 87. He made his first-class cricket debut for Indian Universities against the touring Pakistan team at Pune in 1960-61, scoring 87 in 194 minutes. His immediate success led to selection for the Board President's XI against the same team at Bangalore, where he scored 106', and then as a standby in the final match of the Test series. He scored 202 against Madras University at about the same time, and was then selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy. He was one of the five Indian Cricket Cricketers of the Year in 1960-61.

Dilip Sardesai passed away on July 2, 2007. He is survived by his wife, Nandini, who is a sociologist and a member of the Indian Censor Board for motion pictures. His son Rajdeep a prominent journalist, earned a blue for Oxford University in cricket. He was the Editor-in-Chief of IBN18 Network, that includes CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat from where he left in July 2014. His daughter, Shonali, is a senior social scientist at the World Bank in Washington DC. His son-in-law Taimur Baig is the Principal Economist at Monetary Authority in Singapore. His daughter-in-law Sagarika Ghose is a Rhodes Scholar, journalist and author.

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