Apoorva Sengupta

Lieutenant General Apoorva Kumar Sengupta pronunciation  (3 August 1938 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh – 14 September 2013 in New Delhi) was an Indian army officer and cricketer who played in one Test in 1959.

A.K. Sengupta
Cricket information
BattingRight-hand bat
BowlingLegbreak googly
International information
National side
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class
Matches 1 45
Runs scored 9 1695
Batting average 4.50 26.48
100s/50s -/- 2/8
Top score 8 146*
Balls bowled - 1231
Wickets - 21
Bowling average - 31.14
5 wickets in innings - 1
10 wickets in match - -
Best bowling - 6/32
Catches/stumpings -/- 24/-
Source:

Cricket career

A. K. Sengupta's Test appearance came in the middle of a major controversy in Indian cricket. Ghulam Ahmed announced his retirement a few days before the Madras Test against the West Indies in 1958-59, and Vijay Manjrekar dropped out due to an injury. This led to a confusing situation where Jasu Patel, A. G. Kripal Singh, Manohar Hardikar and Sengupta were all considered. The captain Polly Umrigar wanted Hardikar but when the President of the BCCI insisted that he pick Patel, Umrigar resigned during the night before the match. In the end, Sengupta and Kripal Singh played. Sengupta was dismissed for 1 and 8 by Wes Hall and Roy Gilchrist.[1]

Sengupta was a 'very good allrounder, right hand opening batsman, leg-break and googly bowler and slip field'.[2] He had made his first-class debut earlier in that season against West Indies. Playing for Services, he scored 32 & 100 not out. Two months later he took 6 for 32 against Delhi on his first appearance in the Ranji Trophy. These two performances had led to the selection for the Test match. He continued to play first-class cricket for ten years. His only other hundred was a 146 not out scored against Bombay in the 1959-60 Ranji Trophy semi-final.

Military career

He served as an officer in the Indian army and was awarded PVSM and AVSM. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General (3 star). He was also selected to serve as the defense attache for USA and Canada, based in Washington DC.

After retiring from the Indian army, he lived with his wife Meena Sengupta in New Delhi. They had two children, Amitabh and Surojit Sengupta. Sengupta died in the R&R hospital in New Delhi on 14 September 2013.[3]

References
  1. Mihir Bose, A History of Indian Cricket, Andre-Deutsch (1990), pp. 213-214
  2. Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Who's who of Test cricketers
  3. Obituary in the Times of India (accessed 3 August 2014)
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