and he retired from all cricket at the end of the 1972–73 season. Sardesai played for Bombay in the Ranji Trophy in 13 seasons, between 1961 and 1973, including 10 finals, and never finished on the losing side. He scored 199 against Rajasthan in the 1967 final. In the semi-final against the same team two years later, he was Mankaded by Kailash Gattani. Sardesai's final first-class match was the famous Ranji Trophy final against Madras in 1972–73, which ended on the first ball of the third day. Sardesai scored over 1,000 first-class runs in three domestic seasons, with a career best of 1,429 runs in 1964–65, which included his highest first-class score of 222, for Associated Cement Company against Indian Starlets in the final of the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament. Personal life and post retirement Sardesai first met Nandini Pant (born 1945) in Mumbai's Berry's restaurant when she was holidaying in the city after her exams. Sardesai was a university cricketer during the time. The two kept in touch during the latter's tour of the Caribbean with Indian team in 1961–62, before marrying a couple of years later. Pant worked as a sociology professor for 35 years and later as member of the Central Board of Film Certification till 2015. She is currently a visiting faculty in some of Mumbai's leading colleges. Sardesai's cousin Sopandev was also a cricketer, who played as a wicket-keeper in the first-class level for Rajputana. The Sardesais had three children together: son Rajdeep, and two daughters. Rajdeep is a television journalist and former cricketer. As a cricketer, he earned an Oxford University blue, before beginning a career in journalism. He was the editor-in-chief of IBN18 Network prior to his resignation in 2014; his wife Sagarika Ghose is also a journalist. One of Dilip's daughters, Shonali, is a senior social scientist with the World Bank in Washington, D.C. After retirement from cricket, Sardesai would split his time between his residences in Mumbai and Goa. In June 2007, he was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai for a chest infection. Suffering from kidney ailment during the time, he was on dialysis. He died on 2 July from multiple organ failure. The last rites were performed by Rajdeep at Mumbai's Chandanwadi crematorium the following day. Sardesai was popularly known as 'Sardee-Singh'. During his successful 1970–71 tour there, Sardesai was asked at the airport whether he had anything to