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By: Shree1news, 13 JUL 2021
Former Indian cricketer and 1983 World Cup winner Yashpal Sharma has died of heart attack on Tuesday morning. Yashpal was one of the heroes in India s World Cup triumph in 1983. He performed a pivotal role in the cup by scoring 240 runs at an average of 34.28 including a match-winning 60 against England in the semi-finals.
He was 66 and is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. The former Punjab cricketer was regarded as a gifted middle-order batsman. In a career spanning from 1979 to 1983, Yashpal played 37 Tests for India and scored 1606 runs with two centuries and 9 fifties. Yashpal made his debut in 1979 against England and added substance to the Indian middle order.
Yashpal first hogged limelight when he scored 260 for Punjab schools against Jammu & Kashmir schools in 1972. Within two years, he was in the state group and a member of the North Zone group that won the Vizzy Trophy. His first main innings in first-class cricket was a 173 within the Duleep Trophy for North, against the South Zone which had Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna, and Venkataraghavan.
The 1983 squad had met on the sidelines of a book launch here couple of weeks ago.
“It is unbelievable. He was the fittest among all of us. I had asked him that day when we met how about his routine. He was a vegetarian, teetotaller, used to have soup for his dinner and very particular about his morning walks. I am just shocked,” Vengsarkar informed.
In Ranji Trophy, where he represented three teams — Punjab, Haryana and Railways –, Yashpal played 160 matches amassing 8,933 runs which included 21 centuries with a highest score of 201 not out.
“He told me that day we met that I had lost weight. We had a great reunion. I remember the very first game in the 1983 World Cup playing the mighty West Indies with those fast bowlers, he set the agenda and we won that game,” said former teammate Kirti Azad.
“He was again fantastic in the semifinal hitting Bob Willis for a six. Nowadays people say (Ravindra) Jadeja hits stumps regularly but so did Yashpal. He was a livewire on the field and would hit stumps all the time,” he recalled.
Source:A-N
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