Dilip D'Souza trained as a computer scientist (BITS Pilani, Brown University) and spent many years in software. Somewhere along the way he tried his hand at writing and found that more interesting. He's been a full-time writer for 15 years now. He's won several fellowships and awards for his writing (Outlook/Picador prize, Newsweek/Daily Beast prize, Wolfson College Press Fellowship, and more). He has written for publications like Caravan, Hindustan Times, Mint, Outlook, the Hindu, Washington Post, NYT, Die Zeit, Salon, Newsweek, Daily Beast, among others. He writes a well-regarded mathematics column, A Matter of Numbers, for Mint.
Dilip's interests are reading, music, playing tennis, and travel. He has travelled to some 25 countries, backpacking, driving, taking buses and trains. Born in Madras, he grew up in Bombay, lived in Delhi, Pilani and then in the US for ten years; he has been back in Bombay for 22+ years now. His wife Vibha Kamat teaches French; they have two children, Sahir (15) and Surabhi (10). They have two cats, Aziz and Cleo. They rule.
Final Test is Dilip's fifth book.
The deafening noise in the Wankhede turns to silence so complete that you’d swear you can hear Tendulkar’s footsteps as he begins the walk back to the pavilion.
It’s the end of an era, they said. No more switching off televisions when he got out; no more resounding chants of ‘Sa-chi-i-i-n, Sa-chin!’ In November 2013, Sachin Tendulkar played his final Test.
Dilip D’Souza builds on close and detailed observation of those two and a half days, capturing all the hysteria it spawned, the love and adulation that showered from the rafters at the Wankhede, the choking emotion, and yes, there was a match on too, against the West Indies. Final Test discusses cricket from the old to the new, as Sachin takes to the pitch one final time.
