My first memory of Subhash Gupte is from a local match in Shivaji Park in 1946 where we played against each other for our local club sides. I used to fancy my chances as a legspinner in those days. But then I saw Subhash bowl those lovely googlies, and I said God, I would never be a legspinner. He was just too good even in those early days. I came up against him in 1948 again in the final of our college tournament. I was playing for Elphinstone College, and he for Ruia and from here our real friendship began and I persuaded him to join Elphinstone in 1949. We played a lot of cricket together, travelled together and he became like a family member.

He was already a Test player when I made my debut in the third Test against Pakistan in 1952 and then we were both selected for the tour to West Indies that followed. That tour turned out to be the pinnacle of his career and he gave one of the greatest exhibitions of classical legspin and googly bowling. India have had other legspinners since: B S Chandrashekar and Anil Kumble have both been immensely successful, but neither of them can be called classical. Subhash was as classical as classical could get. He had a lovely action, a beautiful flight and plenty of guile. He bowled the googly better than anyone I have seen. It had a superb loop, it dipped tantalisingly and spun a mile. It was stealth at its most vicious.

Shane Warne has got a somewhat classical action, but he doesn't have Subhash's flight. Subhash tossed it up much more; Warne puts more shoulder into his action and pushes the ball through. Warne relies more on his flippers and his googly isn't half as potent as Subhash's.

With all his flight and turn, another remarkable feature of Subhash's bowling was his pinpoint accuracy: he hardly bowled a ball out of place and never allowed the batsmen the liberty of easy runs. His battle with the three Ws was the highlight of that first tour and the confidence he evoked in the close-in fielders was remarkable. Vinoo Mankad was a perfect foil for him at the other end and both of them often tied up the free-stroking West Indian batsmen to long spells of strokelessness.

He once so frustrated Walcott by bowling six successive maiden overs to him that Walcott charged down the wicket even before the ball was bowled and was stumped by Vijay Manjrekar, who was filling in for the injured E S Maka in that Test. While the three Ws sometimes found a way to counter Subhash the lower-order batsmen found him absolutely unplayable. Often, West Indies reached a level of comfort with only four or five wickets down, only to see Subhash mow down the tail.

A year later, I saw Subhash take 8 wickets in innings and 12 in the match against a strong Silver Jubilee International team led by Frank Worrell. After the match, I sought out the late Duleepsinhji and asked him how Subhash compared with the great legspinners of the past. Duleepsinhji said unhesitatingly that on the basis of what he saw that day, he would rank Subhash alongside, if not ahead of, Clarrie Grimmett.

I was the 12th man at Kanpur in 1958 when Subhash took nine wickets against West Indies and could have got all ten but for a dubious decision. The West Indian batsmen regarded him very highly, and without doubt, he is the greatest legspinner India has ever produced.

Madhav Apte played 7 Tests for India in which he averaged a very respectable 49.27. A technical immaculate opening batsman, he was a star of the Indian tour to West Indies in 1952-53; he hit up a matchsaving 163 not out in the third Test in Trinidad, averaged 51 on the tour and was, inexplicably, dropped after that, never to play Test cricket again, a probable victim of zonal politics. He was a close friend of Subhash Gupte, who stayed at his residence every time he came to Mumbai. Apte spoke to Sambit Bal.

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