Former leg-spinner Subhash Gupte is dead

Subhash Gupte (72), one of the finest exponents of leg spin bowling, died on Friday morning in Trinidad, West Indies.

He is survived by wife Carol, son and daughter.

Gupte, labelled by Sir Gary Sobers as the best leg-spinner he ever saw or faced, passed away just when his wife was preparing to welcome the Indian team, which is scheduled to play the fourth one-day international in Trinidad.

According to information received by the Board of Control of Cricket in India, Carol told Indian captain Sourav Ganguly that "maybe his spirit wanted to return to his home country along with the Indian team".

Gupte played 36 Tests between 1951 and 1962 and captured 149 wickets. His best was 9/102 against West Indies in 1958-59 at Kanpur.

UNI