Daily Times

NEW DELHI: Former Bengal cricketer Gopal Bose, who also played a single one-day international for India, passed away in London on Sunday. He was 71. Bose had gone to London with his wife to spend time with his son. During the vacation, he complained of chest pain and was admitted to a nearby hospital where doctors also diagnosed problems in his kidneys. He was in the Intensive Care Unit for three days before succumbing to his illness. Known for playing long innings in the domestic circuit, Bose featured in 78 first-class matches for Bengal where he scored 3757 runs at 30.79. He was also a handy off-spinner and scaled 72 wickets over the course of his 10-year long career.

In the early 70s, Bose was seen as one of the prime contenders to partner Sunil Gavaskar in the Indian team. It was his knock of 170 for Rest of India in an Irani Trophy match against Bombay in 1973-74 that brought him to the national reckoning. He was then picked for the tour of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where he scored a 100 and added 194 runs for the opening wicket with Gavaskar in an unofficial Test. He was then selected for the 1974 England tour but failed to do well in the tour games, and hence didn’t feature in any of the Tests. However, Bose did play an ODI at the Oval where he scored 13 and picked up the wicket of David Lloyd. Bose was later chosen for the home series against West Indies but did not get a game. He never made it to the national side thereafter.

Apart from being the Bengal selector and coach of the junior team, Bose was also the manager of the Virat Kohli-led Under-19 side that lifted the trophy in 2008. The cricket fraternity condoled the demise of Bose with heartfelt tributes.

Published in Daily Times, August 27^th 2018.