Thread:
Dilip Doshi was well into his thirties when he finally got the opportunity to play for India. 114 Test wickets at 30.71 - quite an achievement given the late start.
The years of experience bowling for Nottinghamshire and Bengal came in handy.
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Bishan Bedi’s magnificent career stuttered against the quick-footed Pakistani batsmen of 1978-79, stumbled against Alvin Kallicharran’s men immediately after that and came to a grinding halt after India’s tour of England the next summer.

The bespectacled 32-year-old took over when the Packer-hit Australians arrived. 6 for 103 in his first innings. In the final Test of the series he took 8, bowling India to an innings win and taking his tally to 27 in the six Tests.

Doshi kept on taking wickets, showing the world what could have been, making up for lost time in a hurry. A hurry that did not interfere with his great control over flight, line and length.

In 3 years and 28 Tests, he topped 100 wickets, one of a handful of men to achieve the feat after making his debut at thirty-plus.
Grimmett, Yardley, Doshi, Ryan Harris, Rafique … quite a handy group.

With thick-framed glasses, buttoned full sleeves and features resembling a salaryman past his first youth, Doshi seldom looked his part as a fantastic left-arm spinner.

And just as the early part of his career had suffered from the presence of Bedi in the Indian side, his last days were rendered bitter and support-less due to the lack of harmony with his captain Sunil Gavaskar.

However, it did not stop Doshi from being one of the best in the game in his era. When records are looked at and evaluated against the contemporary standards of that era, Doshi emerges as a force to reckon with, one of the most successful Indian spinners at home.

Many memorable bowling successes were accompanied by endearingly ridiculous attempts at batting and the lethargic movements in the outfield complete with a bowled in return.

Doshi’s best effort perhaps came against England at Wankhede in 1981-82, when his figures of 29.1-12-39-5 dismissed England for 166 from 95 for 1, and eventually led to a thrilling Indian win.

The other landmark performance was at Melbourne when Australia were set a small total. He came on early because of an injury to Kapil Dev at Melbourne and dismissed Graeme Wood and Kim Hughes, paving the way for the paceman to bowl India to the famous win on the morrow.

And a personal favourite moment is of the rampaging Imran Khan running in at Faisalabad, and Doshi nonchalantly unleashing a flamboyant cover drive, thereby creaming him to the fine-leg fence with incredible finesse, before losing most of his woodwork to the next delivery.

Doshi’s ODI career, however short, was more impressive than many of his contemporaries. 22 wickets at 23.81 with an economy rate of 3.96.

He also went on to become an extremely successful businessman.

His autobiography Spin Punch is one of the most outspoken and controversial by an Indian cricketer.

He is one of the very few cricketers to possess a complete set of the works of PG Wodehouse, specially ordered for him by the cricket bookseller John McKenzie.

Dilip Doshi was born on 22 Dec 1947.
Often the odd man out, but never out of place.

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