Gopal Bose      

In the early 70s, Gopal Bose was one of the prime contenders for the post of Sunil Gavaskar's opening partner. The be-spectacled Bengal batsman was known for his intense concentration and his ability to play a long innings. A marathon knock of 170 for Rest of India in the Irani Trophy match against Bombay in 1973-74 brought him closer to national selection. Picked for the tour of Ceylon later that season, Bose did commendably. In the first `Test' he got a hundred and shared a 194-run opening partnership with Gavaskar. Not unexpectedly, he was selected for the tour of England in 1974. He started with a half century in the opening game but then found runs hard to come by and scored only 326 runs (20.37) in first class matches. He could not find a place in the Test side but played in the second one day international at the Oval where he scored 13 and bowled a full quota of 11 overs with his off breaks and picked up the wicket of David Lloyd.

Back home, India were still struggling to find a suitable opening pair with Gavaskar injured during the 1974-75 series against West Indies and for the fourth Test at Madras, Bose was brought into the squad of 14. It seemed sure that he would open but surprisingly the selectors left him out of the playing eleven and he was never considered thereafter. He however continued to represent Bengal with much success in the Ranji Trophy. (Partab Ramchand)