Former Indian cricketer Gopal Bose passed away

Former Indian cricketer and a stalwart in Bengal cricket, Gopal Bose, passed away aged 71 in London on Sunday morning. He had gone to the United Kingdom with his wife and fell ill after which he was kept in the ICU for three days. A prolonged Kidney ailment is being told as a reason for his demise. Though he could play only a single One-Day International for India, Gopal contributed to Bengal Cricket a lot.

He played as an opener for most of his career and averaged 30.79 in 78 first-class matches. Bose was known for his ability to play long innings and went on to amass 3757 runs with 8 centuries and 17 scores in excess of 50. He also rolled his arm over and scalped 72 wickets during his 10-year career at an impressive average of 26.97. He featured in eight List-A matches and was one of the prime contenders for the post of Sunil Gavaskar‘s opening partner.

He hogged the limelight after scoring 170 runs in the Irani Trophy for Rest of India against Bombay. He was then selected for the unofficial Test against in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka and smashed a prolific ton while opening along with the legendary Gavaskar.

In the lone ODI for India, he scored 13 runs against England and picked David Lloyd’s wicket during his 11-over spell. Though he was picked later in the squad for the home series against Windies, he couldn’t make it to the XI and then was never selected in the national team.

Administrative career

Though he couldn’t make it big at the highest level, Gopal Bose was long associated with cricket as a sports administrator. He worked as a Bengal selector and then was also appointed the coach of the junior team. His biggest achievement was the World Cup victory of India U19 team under the leadership of Virat Kohli in 2008. Gopal was the manager of the team then. He was an active voice and always used to put forth his views regarding the various facets of the game.

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