Tiger on the field and Nawab off it..... passes away....sad...Nawab of Pataudi,the legendary cricketer and the youngest captain of Indian Cricket passed away today at 6 pm at Delhi.
Pataudi – TIGER Pataudi, as he is fondly called-was a of cricketer our era. He inspired us..indeed me at least. He,Jaisimha,FarookhEngineer,PollyUmrigar,SalimDurrani,Prasanna,Chandrasekhar,Ventataraghavan, Eknath Solkar..... were some of the great cricketers of 60s and 70s.
Pataudi was a stylish cricketer for whose style of batting I had a fascination for. He was thrust upon with captaincy at age of 21, at West Indies when Nari Contractor, the then Captain of our team was hit on his head by a ball from Charlie Griffith and was taken out of the ground. Pataudi took charge.
He was our captain for 40 tests(he played 46 tests) but won only 6 or 7 tests. However, he was legendary cricketer for the simple fact that here is a batsman who faced fiery fast bowlers of the era of West Indies with a single eye. ( Pataudi had lost an eye – his right one in a car accident in England)
I remember meeting Pataudi at Tellicherry way back in early 70s when he was playing a Ranji trophy match. I remember while he was fielding , he was chasing a ball and when he knew that he wouldn’t cut off the boundary, he threw his hat right on to the ball. Obviously that was against the rule and he himself signalled the “ boundary”. He was laughing and the whole stadium burst out....the kn
Tiger on the field and Nawab off it..... passes away....sad...Nawab of Pataudi,the legendary cricketer and the youngest captain of Indian Cricket passed away today at 6 pm at Delhi.
Pataudi – TIGER Pataudi, as he is fondly called-was a of cricketer our era. He inspired us..indeed me at least. He,Jaisimha,FarookhEngineer,PollyUmrigar,SalimDurrani,Prasanna,Chandrasekhar,Ventataraghavan, Eknath Solkar..... were some of the great cricketers of 60s and 70s.
Pataudi was a stylish cricketer for whose style of batting I had a fascination for. He was thrust upon with captaincy at age of 21, at West Indies when Nari Contractor, the then Captain of our team was hit on his head by a ball from Charlie Griffith and was taken out of the ground. Pataudi took charge.
He was our captain for 40 tests(he played 46 tests) but won only 6 or 7 tests. However, he was legendary cricketer for the simple fact that here is a batsman who faced fiery fast bowlers of the era of West Indies with a single eye. ( Pataudi had lost an eye – his right one in a car accident in England)
I remember meeting Pataudi at Tellicherry way back in early 70s when he was playing a Ranji trophy match. I remember while he was fielding , he was chasing a ball and when he knew that he wouldn’t cut off the boundary, he threw his hat right on to the ball. Obviously that was against the rule and he himself signalled the “ boundary”. He was laughing and the whole stadium burst out....the kn
In one of the tests, he made a diving stop and the skin had peeled off from elbow to wrist and he went into the dressing room only to walk out in the next over with burnol applied over it... Such was his commitment...
I salute the pioneering captain with vision who has scored above 3000 test run and half a dozen centuries with only one eye. The world will always remember his courage, style and the enigma of his persona.
I was working in Calcutta and a producer was making a short documentary on him. He with Rinkudi(Sharmila) and the kids put up in Kenilworth Hotel) I had the opportunity of speaking to him and shaking hands. That was 1977. He had retired from professional cricket yet I felt his muscle power while we shook hand. His birthday was around and greetings cards from all over the world were displayed nicely in the sitting room. His manners were so superb and the voice roared like a, Yes, Tiger. Love you Boss! Sandip Sarkar
When the privy purse was abolished in 1971 , Pataudi was playing in England . An Englishman showed him the name "Nawab of Pataudi "written on the scoreboard and asked him what he wanted to be called from now on ( he was no longer Nawab as all royal titles had been abolished ) . He shrugged and said - "Call me John Smith for all I care. "
When an English journalist asked him " When did you think Test cricked having lost one eye?" pat came the reply " When I saw the English bowling " I had seen him play & lead India- he was so majestic on filed & commanded great respect from his team.
