He made 642 runs in that series, he hit three centuries and without him India would have lost that series. In the first test at Jamaica he took India from 75-5 to 387 and at Barbados from 70 for 6 to 347.

That romantic phase in 1971 may never have happened. As it turned out there was much more to come. In England, in 1971, India won at the Oval having to chase 173 to win. It seemed to take forever but Sardesai was there. His 40 was worth a century. To beat England in England, we believed, was impossible.

And he was a great Ranji Trophy batsman, an outstanding player of spin and a man who backed himself. Even though he was from Goa, and he never forgot that, he symbolised the tough Bombay cricketer, never giving an inch. I never saw him bat but just speaking to him I could imagine what it must have been.

He was never more than 10 seconds away from a strong opinion and that made him an extremely engaging personality. If you wanted a forthright no-nonsense view, you spoke to Dilip Sardesai. It is a gene that his son has inherited well.

But he loved cricket. You could see him at the Wankhede Stadium and doubtlessly at the Brabourne watching closely and reacting; like he were still batting. He could be critical and blunt but he could be generous in praise too. If you were a young cricketer you would have liked to know what Dilip Sardesai thought of you because if he didn't like what he saw, you'd know.

An average of almost 40 when, in his peak years, India lost more than they won is very good. Had he not been pushed up the order maybe he would have scored more. But in his later years he seemed peaceful, not fretting too much over it. As his health failed him, the opinions remained robust. Now they too have gone.

(Popular commentator Harsha Bhogle wrote this article in the Indian Express website).