CD Gopinath, who carried within him the memory of the most important day in Indian cricket history, passed away in Chennai on Thursday at the age of 96. He was India’s oldest living Test cricketer and the last man alive who could say he was there — on the field — when India won their very first Test match.

The Match That Changed Everything

Before February 1952, India had played Test cricket for 20 years and 24 matches without winning a single one. Every series in that two-decade stretch had ended in either a loss or a draw, and there were real questions — particularly in the colonial cricket establishment — about whether India could ever win at the highest level.

Then came the fifth Test against England at Chepauk in Madras — Gopinath’s home ground. Vijay Hazare’s India posted 457/9, with Polly Umrigar making 130 and Pankaj Roy scoring 111. Vinoo Mankad, the great all-rounder, then destroyed England’s batting with 8 wickets across the match. India won by an innings and eight runs.

Gopinath batted at number eight in that historic match, contributing 35 in the only innings India needed. He was 22 years old.

For 74 years, he carried that memory. As the last surviving member of that XI, it lived most purely in him.

The Cricketer: Grace and Elegance

Born Chingleput Duraikannu Gopinath on March 1, 1930, in Chennai, he was described consistently as a stylist — a right-handed batter of wide range and elegant stroke play rather than brute force.

In 83 first-class matches and 119 innings, he scored 4,259 runs at an average of 42.16, with nine centuries and 23 half-centuries — including a highest score of 234. His Test debut against England at the Brabourne Stadium in 1951 was a statement: batting at number eight, he made an unbeaten 50 in his first innings and 42 in his second.

CD Gopinath’s Test Career at a Glance

Category

Detail

Test debut

vs England, Brabourne Stadium, 1951

Final Test

vs Australia, Eden Gardens, 1960

Tests played

8

Innings

12

Test runs

242

Test average

22.00

Highest score

50* (debut)

First-class matches

83

First-class runs

4,259

First-class average

42.16

First-class centuries

9

First-class highest

234

He played his last Test against Australia at Eden Gardens in 1960 — a nine-year international career across three decades of cricket.

The Tributes

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association paid tribute immediately.

“Rest in peace, CD Gopinath! A true pioneer of Indian cricket and the last surviving member of the historic team that scripted India’s first-ever Test victory. Your legacy will forever be etched in the game’s rich history.”

At his death, Gopinath was 96 years and 39 days old — India’s oldest living Test cricketer, and the second oldest living Test cricketer in the world after Australia’s Neil Harvey (97 years and 183 days). Following his passing, 95-year-old Chandrakant Patankar — who played one Test for India against New Zealand at Eden Gardens in 1956 — becomes India’s oldest living Test cricketer.

CD Gopinath lived long enough to see Indian cricket evolve from those tentative, winless early years into a global powerhouse, the nation that now hosts the richest cricket league on Earth. In 1952 at Chepauk, he was one of the men who made all of it feel possible.