The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Thursday paid a special tribute to Indian football legend Chuni Goswami who breathed his last this evening in Kolkata following a cardiac arrest. He was earlier admitted to a hospital and passed away at 5:00 pm in the evening.
Subimal Goswami or 'Chuni da' was a versatile sports veteran. Born in undivided Bengal's Kishoreganj District, which is presently in Bangladesh, Chuni played 50 international matches for India, between 1956 and 1964 which included the 1960 Olympics in Rome, and netted 13 goals. He also led India to the Asian Games gold medal in 1962, and a silver in the 1964 Asia Cup in Israel.
Besides being a football legend, Chuni was also a well-known first-class cricketer and played 46 matches between 1962 and 1973. He was a right-handed middle-order batsman and could also bowl medium pace. His credentials also include his captaincy heroics in 1970/71 Ranji Trophy season where he guided Bengal to the final.
"BCCI mourns the death of Subimal 'Chuni' Goswami, an all-rounder in the truest sense. He captained the Indian national football team & led to them to gold in the 1962 Asian Games. He later played first-class cricket for Bengal & guided them to the final of Ranji Trophy in 1971-72," the BCCI said in a statement.
Chuni scored 1592 runs in 46 games at 28.42 and picked 47 wickets in his first-class career.
However, his most notable performance came in 1966 when he picked eight wickets for a combined East and Central Zone team to beat Garry Sober's West Indies.
