Subhash Gupte

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Pragyan Ojha becomes 3rd fastest Indian bowler to pick 100 Test wickets

Subhash Gupte Biography

Subhash Gupte was nicknamed Fergie after West Indian leg-spinner Wilf Ferguson, a man he would emulate in stature. A master of variations, control, and astuteness, Gupte was rated by many as the finest leg-spinner (including Garry Sobers, who considered Gupte greater than Shane Warne).

The first of the great Indian leg-spinners, Gupte formed a trinity with Vinoo Mankad and Ghulam Ahmed. Unfortunately, he was not aided by the greatest of fielding sides, but even then his 149 wickets from 36 Tests came at a shade below 30, but a more important statistic is his sub-29 overseas average.

His greatest series was in West Indies in 1952-53, where he claimed 27 wickets at 29. In his next series, in Pakistan, he had 21 wickets at 23, and when New Zealand came over, he responded with 34 wickets at 20. From these 15 Tests he claimed 10 five-wicket hauls.

In fact, Gupte claimed a five-wicket haul every 3 Tests (12 in 36) — the best among all Indian spinners. Strangely, his worst series came against West Indies at home in 1958-59 — despite the fact that he took the first 9-wicket haul by an Indian (9 for 102) in the same series.

He did well on his only tour of England as well, taking 95 wickets at 27. Though India were whitewashed 0-5 on the tour, Gupte finished with 17 wickets at 35, taking four wickets thrice.

During the drab 1960-61 home series against Pakistan he was dropped after 3 Tests (though his 8 wickets came at 30), and was replaced by his brother Baloo. However, they recalled him against England.

He was rooming with Kripal Singh during the England series. When Kripal asked a hotel receptionist to go out with him, the call was traced to their room, and for some reason Gupte was made victim. As Mihir Bose wrote, “India’s first great spinner ended his career because he happened to share a room with a man who wanted a drink with a girl.”

A disgruntled Gupte left India for good, though he came back to prove his worth the following domestic season: his 37 wickets came at a ridiculous 14; this included 25 wickets from two consecutive matches.

Gupte married Carol Goberdhan, whom he had met on the 1952-53 tour of West Indies and had courted for close to a decade through post. He settled down in Trinidad. He even played domestic cricket for them.

He passed away at 72, in Port-of-Spain, a day before India played an ODI against the hosts in the same city.

Abhishek Mukherjee

Subhash Gupte Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Subhash Gupte Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
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World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--