Sardesai, who was admitted to Bombay Hospital late last month with chest infection, was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit on Sunday night after he developed complications.

Suffering from kidney problems for a long time, he had been on dialysis and had been in and out of hospital for long. Sardesai is survived by his wife, son and eminent television journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and a daughter who is based in the United States.

Born on August 8, 1940 at Margao, Goa, Dilip Narayan Sardesai made his Test debut against England at Kanpur in December 1961 and played his last Test against the same team in Delhi in December 1972.

During a career spanning 11 years, he played 30 Tests and scored 2,001 runs in 55 innings with an average of 39.23 helped by a double century and four centuries.

However, Sardesai is remembered most for his brilliant performance in the tour of the West Indies in 1970-71 when Sunil Gavaskar had made his Test debut, by hitting up a double ton and two centuries that powered India to a first-ever series win in the Caribbean under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar.

In that series, Sardesai finished with an aggregate of 642 runs in three Tests, second only to Gavaskar who had made 742 runs.

Ironically, Sardesai's selection for that tour of the West Indies at the fag end of his career came when he had at point appeared out of the reckoning. He continued to play Test cricket for just two more years.

Known for his immaculate footwork and a sound technique, he was the mainstay of Indian middle order batting in the 1970s and rescued India from tight spot on a number of occasions. He was on object lesson to aspiring cricketers trying to negotiate spin bowlers.

Though predominantly a defensive batsman, Sardesai also showed his ability for attacking cricket when required and a fine example of this came when he scored one of India's fastest centuries against New Zealand in 1964-65.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Cricket Board President Sharad Pawar and a host of former players including Gavaskar who had played with him condoled the death.

Former off spinner S Venkataraghavan paid glowing tributes to Sardesai describing him as one of his best friends and recalling his "phenomenal" double century in the Kingston Test against the West Indies in 1970-71.

Another legendary off spinner Erapalli Prasanna termed Sardesai as his friend, philosopher and guide and said his performance in the West Indies was the trendsetter for India's series win in 1971.

Wadekar said Sardesai was a cricketer of "great value" and "he gave us confidence against the West Indies".

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, former skipper, said he was shocked to hear the death of Sardesai.

Former wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer said he lost a genuine friend and recalled his fastest century against New Zealand.