Former Bengal and Indian cricketer Gopal Bose passes away at 71

Former Bengal and India cricketer Gopal Bose breathed his last on Sunday morning in London. The former right-hander who was suffering from a prolonged illness had travelled to England with his family for the treatment and died from a cardiac arrest. He was 71 at the time of death.

Having made a reputation of playing a long innings while opening the batting, the be-spectacled Bose was a veteran of 78 first-class matches where he amassed 3,757 runs at an average of 30.79, his highest score being 170 runs for the Rest of India side against Bombay in the Irani Trophy. He was known for his rock-solid determination on the crease with the bat and this knock propelled him towards getting selected for the national team later that season. He was picked for the tour of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka where he scored 104 runs and shared a mammoth 194-run opening stand with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.

Quite expectedly, he was selected for the tour of England in 1974- a series which he began well with a half-century. But poor form with the bat saw him out of the side. He nonetheless played an ODI for India against England at The Oval where he made 13 runs with the bat. He was also a handy off-spinner, having bowled a full quota of 11 overs in that match, even dismissing David Llyod.

He was then picked to be Gavaskar’s opening partner for the home series against West Indies but failed to find a spot in the playing XI.   But he continued to play for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy.

Bose also wore the hat of a sports administrator during his association with the sport. He was a selector of the Bengal team and his most notable success in this role came in 2008 when he was the manager of Virat Kohli’s U-19 winning World Cup winning team.

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