[caption id="attachment_28431" align="alignnone" width="580"]Samir-Dasgupta Bengal manager Samir Dasgupta passed away on Wednesday.[/caption] Kolkata: One of the most popular managers in Bengal cricket, Samir Dasgupta passed away on Wednesday at a city hospital. Dasgupta, aged 75 years died of heart attack around 6:40 am at RN Tagore Hospital. The dead body of Mr Dasgupta was taken to Victoria Sporting Club, East Bengal Club and Cricket Association of Bengal before cremation. Bengal cricket fraternity was left in a state of shock at the sudden demise of Samir Dasgupta. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Mr Dasgupta, (popularly known as Samirda) was in the truest sense a player’s manager. He has served the role of manager of Bengal senior team for over a decade. Few days back he travelled with the Bengal team to Delhi for the Ranji Trophy clash against Gujarat. The match could not be held due to Delhi smog. He came back to Kolkata and took the team again to Rajkot for the Tamil Nadu clash, but had to return back to Kolkata after complaining of chest pain. He was admitted to RN Tagore hospital on Saturday. The highlights of his career as a manager included the Duleep Trophy win the East Zone team. He was also the manager when Bengal made it to the finals of Ranji Trophy consecutively in 2005-6 and 2006-07 seasons. Mr Dasgupta would always carry boxes of sweets with him and greet every cricketer in his special fondly manner. He was fond of his dresses and was always had a fascination for ties and pins. “He used to collect for ties and pins. We would always tease him for ties,” former Bengal cricketer Rohan Gavaskar fondly recalls. Rohan also added, “We would always get sweets from him. During winters he would give us 'Nalengurer rosogolla' and cakes from Kathleen. He was such a gentle soul someone who would always make you smile with his positive vibes." Former Bengal captain and now a commentator Deep Dasgupta recalled, "There came a time when junk foods like sweets and pizzas were banned but we knew where to get it, and we would head straight to Samirda's room," He further added how he went out of his way to sort things out, be it laundry, room or the tickets. "He was one of the friendliest administrators the sport has ever seen. Be it the DA, arranging a hotel or making sure of the laundry, he will go out of his way to ensure that the players were in a comfort zone, free from any hassle. It's a personal loss for me." Samir Dasgupta also served as a former assistant secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal. He was currently the general secretary of Victoria Sporting club. He was also the cricket secretary of East Bengal club. It was during his time, cricketing greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev along with Ajay Sharma, Ajay Jadeja donned the East Bengal jersey during the invitational P. Sen Trophy organized by the Cricket Association of Bengal. Mr Dasgupta shared some great relationship with the Indian cricketers. He has been the manager of Indian cricket team on several occasions whenever they came to play an international match at Eden Gardens. CAB joint secretary Avishek Dalmiya in a condolence message said,"I've known him from the time of my father. He has always served the association tirelessly. Besides being an expert in man management, he was a warm and honest human being. His sudden and untimely death is most unfortunate, and has left us grief-stricken." Treasurer Biswarup Dey recalled, “He was a cricket crazy individual. He was loved by all in the association. He was a player’s manager.”    

Bengal manager Samir Dasgupta passes away