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CD Gopinath, India’s oldest Test cricketer, died at his Chennai home on Tuesday. He was 96. Only Australia’s Neil Harvey, 95, now stands older among living men’s Test players worldwide.
The right-hand batter played eight Tests and 83 first-class matches for India and Madras between 1951 and 1964. His Test debut came at the Brabourne Stadium in December 1951, where he struck an unbeaten 50 from No. 8 and followed it with 42 in the second innings. India drew that match with England, but the series would soon shift Indian cricket’s history.
The fifth Test, staged at Chepauk in February 1952, produced the country’s first victory at this level – by an innings and eight runs. Gopinath scored 35, fielded tidily at cover, and never tired of recalling the atmosphere. In a 2024 interview he said, “Some people from the UK came and interviewed me on the Test match that India won for the first time in 1952… They said, ‘No, we regard that win as a turning point of the cricket history of India.’… They said, ‘Nobody else, because there’s nobody else alive. You are the only one from that team that is there.’ I said, ‘So I can say anything I want!’”
First-class consistency
Gopinath finished with 4259 runs at 42.16 in the domestic game, captaining Madras (now Tamil Nadu) for several seasons. Former team-mate A. G. Kripal Singh once described him as “the calmest head in any dressing-room”, a quality borne out by those numbers.
Statistically his international returns – 242 runs at 22.00 – barely hint at his ability. Injuries, work commitments with a shipping firm, and the competition for middle-order places limited appearances. Historian Ramachandra Guha noted, “In another era he would probably have played 30 or 40 Tests.”
Tributes and context
“Indian cricket salutes a pioneer,” the BCCI posted on X. “His grit in Chennai 1952 laid the path for generations.”
Tamil Nadu coach D. Vasu added, “Every youngster here knows the Chepauk story. Mr Gopinath proved that belief beats reputation.”
With Gopinath’s passing, 95-year-old Chandrakant Patankar (one Test, 1956) becomes India’s oldest living Test cricketer. The moment underlines how rapidly the early chapters of the country’s Test history are moving from living memory into the record books.
Why that 1952 win still matters
Analytically, the significance of that first victory cannot be overstated. Until then India had drawn five Tests and lost 12. Beating an England side featuring Len Hutton and Alec Bedser shattered the perception that sub-continental teams could not close out matches. It also encouraged selectors to back home-grown methods – spin on dry pitches, patient batting – rather than mimic English styles. As Guha points out, “It planted the seed of self-belief that blossomed in the 1970s and beyond.”
Farewell to a modest man
Friends remember Gopinath’s reluctance to celebrate personal milestones. He preferred golf in later years, still popping into Chepauk on Ranji Trophy mornings. His passing removes the final on-field voice from India’s first Test triumph, but the legacy endures in every scoreboard that lists an Indian victory.
Chandrakant Patankar may now hold the mantle of India’s oldest living Test cricketer, yet the story of CD Gopinath – elegant, understated, pivotal – will remain essential reading for anyone curious about where the modern Indian game truly began.
