Dilip Narayan Sardesai (8 August 1940, Margao, Goa – 2 July 2007, Mumbai) was an Indian Test cricketer. He was the only Goa-born cricketer to play for India, and was often regarded as India's best batsman against spin bowling. Sardesai made his first mark in cricket in the inter-university Rohinton Baria Trophy in 1959–60 where he made 435 runs at an average of 87. He made his first-class cricket debut for Indian Universities against the touring Pakistan team at Pune. Sardesai was married to Nandini, a sociologist, and former member of the Central Board of Film Certification. His cousin Sopandev was also a cricketer, who played as a wicket-keeper in the first-class level for Rajputana. The Sardesais had three children together: son Rajdeep, and two daughters. Rajdeep is a television journalist and former cricketer. As a cricketer, he earned blue playing for the Oxford University, before working as the editor-in-chief of IBN18 Network prior to his resignation in 2014; his wife Sagarika Ghose is also a journalist. One of Dilip's daughters, Shonali, is a senior social scientist at the World Bank in Washington DC.
After retirement from cricket, Sardesai would split his time between his residences in Mumbai and Goa. In June 2007, he was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai for a chest infection. Suffering from kidney ailment during the time, he was on dialysis. He died on 2 July from multiple organ failure. The last rites were performed by Rajdeep at Mumbai's Chandanwadi crematorium the following day. Sardesai was popularly known as 'Sardee-Singh'. During his successful 1970–71 tour there, Sardesai was asked at the airport whether he had anything to declare. 'I have come here with runs', he replied, 'and I'll go back with more'. On 8 August 2018, search engine Google commemorated Sardesai with a Doodle on his 78th birth anniversary.
