India’s oldest-living Test player CD Gopinath passes away at 96

 
CD Gopinath. PIC – RevSportz.
CD Gopinath, the last-surviving player of India’s maiden Test win, against England in 1952, has passed away in Chennai. At 96, Gopinath was India’s oldest Test cricketer, and the second oldest in the world after the Australian great Neil Harvey. 
Gopinath, who was born in 1930, graduated from Madras Christian College. Gopinath was a key member of Madras’ Ranji Trophy winning side in 1954-55. During that season, he averaged 67.75 with the bat. In total, Gopinath, composed 4259 runs at an average of 42.16 in 83 first-class matches. One of his finest knocks in first-class cricket was his 175 against the touring New Zealanders.  Gopinath’s hundred came in the context of South Zone being in arrears by more than 300 runs. 
Gopinath made his Test debut against England at the Brabourne Stadium in 1951. In that game, he amassed vital hands of 50 and 42 versus Brian Statham and co. A couple of Tests later in Chennai, India created history by clinching their first-ever Test win, with an innings victory over the Donald Carr-led England side.  In that game, Gopinath shared a stand of 93 with Polly Umrigar. During the tour of Pakistan in 1954-55, he also averaged 58.33 in first-class cricket. The Chennai-born cricketer went on to play eight Tests, accruing 242 runs.  Gopinath also served as the national selector. 
Chandrakant Patnakar, the wicket-keeper-bat from Maharashtra, now is the oldest-surviving Indian cricketer at the age of 95 years and 136 days.

The post India’s oldest-living Test player CD Gopinath passes away at 96 appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Consistent Nicholas Pooran can be world’s top T20 batter

Image
Nicholas Pooran’s carnage against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Image: IPL He has always had a calmness about him. A very West Indian relaxed kind of mindset and demeanour. And having seen adversity, he knows that one needs to celebrate and value the good that comes your way. The urge to keep getting better, and be the best version of oneself, is what defines the new Nicholas Pooran. That’s what came through in the candid conversations we had on the IPL and his own approach to batting. Not overawed by the 21-crore price tag or the weight of expectations, Pooran is simply going about his job. He knows he can hit the ball miles and is keeping it simple. Go and do what you do best for hours and hours at practice, and in doing so, help your team Lucknow Super Giants] demolish opponents. “The best part about this franchise is they have never put me under pressure,” he told me. “When you are paid a lot of money, there is always pressure. Not so much from outside but from within. You know you ne...
Read more

Turning the clock back by 0.12 seconds

Image
MS Dhoni with a stumping dismissal against MI in the IPL 2025 in Chennai (PC: BCCI) The moment of the Chennai Super Kings-Mumbai Indians match lasted less than half a second. It was the 11 th over of the MI innings. Suryakumar Yadav was bringing the batting side back in the game. Noor Ahmad beat him on a forward charge, the ball spun away, and the right-hander’s hind leg got off the ground before he planted it back. That was all MS Dhoni needed to brush the bails off. At a packed MA Chidambaram Stadium decked in yellow and chanting his name, that was the only occasion when Dhoni was in ‘action’. It showed that at 43, his reflexes have not slackened and he has got sharper in plotting dismissals. This one was replayed on TV again and again during the match and commentators couldn’t help but keep talking about it. He had conceded four byes on the leg side in the same over. But this was the Dhoni who elevated stumping to another level. When it comes to waiting for batters to err wit...
Read more

From scoring ton in Patna to taking on bouncers like a ‘bullet’ in Perth – Nitish’s story of perseverance

Image
Nitish Kumar Reddy during the 1st innings of the Perth Test (PC: Debasis Sen) “Grateful, an innings to remember.” Nitish Reddy had posted the aforesaid statement on his Instagram account after cracking his maiden first-class hundred, against Bihar, in Patna. It wasn’t just about Nitish scoring an unbeaten 159 for Andhra. It was also about the way he scored those runs. He essayed a few crunchy drives off Veer Pratap Singh and also showcased his range of shots against Ashutosh Aman, the left-arm spinner, by playing with the turn and also against the turn. This hundred from Nitish came just before the 2024 IPL season, where he accumulated 303 runs. Once again, it wasn’t just about Nitish accruing 303 runs as he accumulated them with a touch of class. Soon, the Indian think-tank drafted the all-rounder into the limited-overs set-up. Although he missed the Zimbabwe series because of a hernia problem, it was crystal clear that the coaching staff had a vision – to pick him for the tour o...
Read more