© businessreviewindia.in
Full name Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi Jr.
Born January 5, 1941, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Died September 22, 2011, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi (aged 70 years 260 days)
Major teams India, Delhi, Hyderabad (India), Oxford University, Sussex
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Profile
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi has a net,
session, April 25, 1967 © PA Photos
Mansoor Ali Khan or Mansur Ali Khan(sometimes M.A.K. Pataudi), Nicknamed Tiger Pataudi, was an Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team. He was the ninth Nawab of Pataudi until 1971, when India abolished royal entitlements through the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India.
Mohamed Mansur Ali Khan was the son of Iftikhar Ali Khan, eighth Nawab of Pataudi and his wife Sajida Sultan, second daughter of the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal. He was born in Bhopal and educated at A.M.U Minto Circle School in Aligarh and then went to Welham Boys' School in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Lockers Park Prep School in Hertfordshire (where he was coached by Frank Woolley), and Winchester College. He read Arabic and French at Balliol College, Oxford.
His father died while playing polo in Delhi on Mansoor's eleventh birthday in 1952, whereupon Mansoor succeeded as the ninth Nawab of Pataudi. While the princely state of Pataudi had been merged with India after the end of the British Raj in 1947, Mansoor inherited the titular dignity of Nawab of Pataudi. He held the title until the entitlements were abolished by the Government of India through the 26th amendment to
Pataudi Jr., as Mansoor came to be known during his cricket career, was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler.He was a schoolboy batting prodigy at Winchester, relying on his keen eyes to punish the bowling. He captained the school team in 1959, scoring 1,068 runs that season and beating the school record set in 1919 by Douglas Jardine. He also won the public schools rackets championship, with partner Christopher Snell.
He made his first-class debut for Sussex in August 1957, aged 16, and also played for Oxford while he was at university. On 1 July 1961, he was a passenger in a car which was involved in an accident in Hove. A shard of glass from the broken windscreen penetrated and permanently damaged his right eye. The damage caused Pataudi to see a doubled image, and it was feared this would end his cricketing career, but Pataudi was soon in the nets learning to play with one eye.
R.Dravid receives the Pataudi Trophy from MAK Pataudi,
England v India, 3rd Test, The Oval, 5th day, August 13, 2007.
© Getty image
Despite his eye injury less that 6 months before, he made his Test debut playing against England in Delhi in December 1961.He found it easiest to play with his cap pulled down over his damaged right eye. He scored 103 in the Third Test in Madras, helping India to its first series win against England.He was appointed vice-captain for the tour to the West Indies in 1962. In March 1962, Mansoor became captain of the Indian cricket team after the sitting captain Nari Contractor was ruled out of the Fourth Test in Barbados due to an injury sustained by Contractor batting against Charlie Griffith in a tour match against Barbados.At 21 years and 77 days, he held the world record for the youngest Test captain until he was surpassed by Tatenda Taibu in May 2004. As of 2011, he remains the youngest Indian Test captain.
He played in 46 Test matches for India between 1961 and 1975, scoring 2,793 runs at a Test batting average of 34.91, including 6 Test centuries.Mansoor was captain of the Indian cricket team in 40 of his 46 matches, only 9 of which resulted in victory for his team, with 19 defeats and 19 draws. His victories included India's first ever Test match win overseas against New Zealand in 1968. India went on to win that series, making it India's first ever Test series win overseas.He lost the captaincy of the Indian cricket team for the tour to the West Indies in 1970-1, and did not play Tests from 1970 to 1972. He returned to the India side captained by Ajit Wadekar in 1973, for the Third Test against England, and captained India against West Indies in 1974-5, but was finally dropped as a player in 1975.
Between 1957 and 1970 Mansoor, following his countrymen Ranjitsinhji and Duleepsinhji, played 137 first class matches for Sussex County Cricket Club scoring 3,054 runs at an average of 22.29.He captained Sussex in 1966. In India, he played first-class cricket for Delhi in the North Zone until 1966, and then for Hyderabad in the South Zone.
Hanif Mohammad and (Mansur Ali Khan)
chat at Lord's ahead of playing for the,
Rest of the World in 1965.
© The Cricketer International
He was an Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1962, and a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1968. He published an autobiography, Tiger's Tale, in 1969. He was the manager of the India team in 1974-5, and referee for two Ashes Tests in 1993.He was later a member of the council of the Indian Premier League. In 2007, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of India's Test debut, the Marylebone Cricket Club has commissioned a trophy for Test match series between India and England which was named the Pataudi Trophy in honour of his father, the 8th Nawab.
On 27 December 1969, Mansoor married actress Sharmila Tagore, great-grandniece of Rabindranath Tagore. They had three children:Saif Ali Khan, a Bollywood actor, born 16 August 1970;Soha Ali Khan, a Bollywood actress, born 4 October 1978;Saba Ali Khan a jewellery designer.In June 2005, Mansoor Ali Khan was arrested for poaching Blackbuck deer, a protected species in India.He was released on bail after two days in jail.His uncle was General Sher Ali Khan Pataudi, and his first cousin Nawab Shahryar Khan, who was the former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan. His cousin Major General Isfandiyar Ali Pataudi, son of Sher Ali Khan Pataudi, is the commander of the 26th Mechanized Division of Pakistan Army.
Pataudi was admitted to New Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on 22 September 2011 with an acute lung infection. The infection was caused by chronic interstitial lung disease which prevented his lungs from exchanging oxygen properly The same day he died of respiratory failure. His body was buried at Pataudi near Delhi on 23 September 2011. His funeral was attended by large number of film actors, directors and producers, as well as cricketing fraternity.
Test debut India v England at Delhi, Dec 13-18, 1961
Last Test India v West Indies at Mumbai, Jan 23-29, 1975
First-class span 1957-1976
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A republican prince
Pataudi was a legend when he started. His pedigree, flair,
and epic disregard for his handicap, spoke to the anxieties and aspirations of a young India and to its hunger for heroes
Mukul Kesavan
© Connect.in.Com
Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, was that curious hybrid: a republican prince. Both parts of his personality came together to create the larger-than-life legend that he became, first as an active cricketer and then through the long afterlife that is the lot of every famous sportsman.
His father, the eighth Nawab of Pataudi, was the ruler of a minor principality but a cricketer of considerable distinction. It was a very colonial distinction: educated at Balliol College, Oxford, Pataudi Sr played first for Worcestershire and then for England as the princely subject of a far-flung empire. Before India's independence, in 1946, when his son was five years old, he achieved the double distinction of playing Test cricket for two countries: he captained India against his old team, England.
His son had much to live up to as he came of age in the first decade of the young republic. Born into great privilege (his mother was, in her own right, the Begum of a much grander princely state, Bhopal) he was orphaned early. He was schooled for the most part in England, where he broke all of Douglas Jardine's batting records at Winchester - which gave him particular satisfaction because Jardine and his father had had a famous falling out over the ethics of Bodyline bowling. He gave notice that he wasn't just the son of a famous man but a cricketing prodigy who was likely to eclipse his father.
© 24cricket.com
India in the fifties was a proud young republic, but for its middle classes an education at a famous English public school and thereafter at Oxford still had great cachet. Certainly one reason why Pataudi became India's Test captain after Charlie Griffith broke Nari Contractor's head in the West Indies was because he had captained both Winchester and Oxford. He was absurdly young, just 21, the youngest Test captain in the history of the game. In terms of Test match experience someone like Chandu Borde had the larger claim, but Pataudi's lineage, his English exploits and the fact that he had scored a fifty and a hundred in his first Test series against England persuaded the selectors that he was fit to lead.
It was an extraordinary gamble, the risk mitigated perhaps because the selectors knew they were betting on an extraordinary man. All the runs Pataudi had scored in his young Test career had been made with one functional eye. At the age of 20 he had damaged his right eye in a car accident. He wasn't just a prince; he was already a hero who had overcome a career-ending disability with such savoir faire that the selectors probably felt he could do anything. And they were right.
So from the very start of his Test career, Pataudi was a kind of legend. Schoolboys in the sixties spent inordinate amounts of time trying to work out whether his right eye was real or made of glass. He was the debonair one-eyed prince who had out-Englished the English and who was going to help India master this great colonial game. His pedigree, his poshness, his flair, his epic disregard for his handicap, spoke to the anxieties and aspirations of a young republic, and to its hunger for heroes.
Pataudi played 46 Tests and he captained India in 40 of them. It's hard to believe his career was more or less over before he was 30, so completely did he dominate India's cricketing imagination for a decade. The last series of his eight-year run as captain (before he was replaced by Ajit Wadekar) was the five-Test thriller against Bill Lawry's Australians in 1969, which India lost 3-1. It was the year he married one of Bombay cinema's most celebrated heroines, Sharmila Tagore. Pataudi's considerable charisma was now gilded with stardust.
Like Shammi Kapoor and the Beatles, Pataudi's heyday was the sixties. Between 1962 and 1970, he captained India in 36 Tests, of which India won seven - not, on the face of it, a remarkable record as captain. What the figures conceal is the panache and flair with which he led sides that ranged from middling to poor. He led India to their first series win abroad, against New Zealand, a notable achievement for a side that had always travelled badly.
Faced by a famine of fast bowlers, Pataudi rejected the orthodoxy of a "balanced" bowling attack and bet the house on attacking spinners. His greatest legacy was the golden age of Indian spin bowling, featuring that remarkable quartet, Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghavan. To back them up he helped create the best cordon of close-in fielders Indian cricket had ever seen: Eknath Solkar, Wadekar, Venkatraghavan and Abid Ali. He led by example; he was India's best cover fielder right through his career.
© ESPNcricinfo Ltd
As a batsman he hit half a dozen centuries and 16 fifties for a respectable average, 34.91. Did he count as a batsman? Yes he did. There were the two fifties he made against Bob Simpson's Australians that helped India win the Bombay Test in 1964. There was the fifty and the hundred in a losing cause at Headingley in 1967. India lost every Test in that series, but listening to Test Match Special on the BBC's World Service, Indians were content that their hero had top scored in India's first innings and then hit a wonderful 148 out of a total of 510 to avoid a follow-on. (India lost respectably, by six wickets).
Listening to John Arlott and Brian Johnston speculate about the batting heights Pataudi might have scaled with two good eyes, his countrymen forgave him all the innings when he had scored nothing and hadn't seemed to care. Best of all, there were the two fifties he hit against the Australians in the Melbourne Test of 1967-68, where, literally hamstrung, he hit 75 and 85, "with one good eye and on one good leg… " (Mihir Bose, A History of Indian Cricket). India still lost by an innings, but Indians were used to finding individual consolation in collective failure and the thought of Pataudi, hobbled but heroic, hooking and pulling his way to gallant defeat, was consolation enough.
He wasn't part of the history-making team that won away series against West Indies and England in 1971, having been dropped as captain and replaced by Wadekar. To add insult to injury, by the end of that landmark year he wasn't a Nawab either: Indira Gandhi abolished princely titles and the privy purses that went with them.
With hindsight, he should have retired then but didn't. He returned to Test cricket to play part of a series under Wadekar's captaincy against a touring English side, and then made an unexpected comeback as captain, when Wadekar retired after a disastrous tour of England in 1974, having lost everything. Pataudi led India in four of the five Tests during West Indies' 1974 tour, and though the rubber was a thriller (West Indies won 3-2), he personally had a terrible run with the bat. The swansong was a mistake; he was too slow for the game at the highest level and it showed.But given his achievement, this was a minor misjudgment. When Pataudi took charge of the Indian team, it was a team that didn't believe they could win or bowl the opposition out twice. He left them ready to hold their own against any opposition, with the self-belief necessary for success.
In retirement he dabbled unsuccessfully in electoral politics, edited a sports magazine, and briefly became an expert commentator. He had a brilliant television manner: sharp, sardonic, and occasionally rude. When Asif Iqbal led the Pakistan team to India, Pataudi chatted to him on camera. He asked Iqbal, deadpan, if he planned to change countries again. Asif Iqbal had migrated to Pakistan as a 17-year-old after playing cricket for Hyderabad, Pataudi's first-class team, and the great man hadn't forgotten. The audience drew in a sharp breath, Asif, to his great credit, smiled, and the moment passed. It was a quintessentially Pataudi moment.
Luckily he didn't make it a living and his fans didn't have to watch him age into a television hack. A natural reserve also had him keep his distance from India's cricket establishment, except for a brief, ill-fated stint with the IPL. He remained untouched by the squabbles and sleaze that attended cricket's transformation into big business in India. As a consequence, death finds him happily embalmed in fond radio memories: still tigerish in the covers, still a prince amongst men.
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A man of opposites
Aloof yet witty, plain but direct, regal yet casual.
MAK Pataudi was so many contradictory things that
eventually you stopped trying to classify him
Mudar Patherya
Spending an hour with Tiger Pataudi was often a matter of trying to get a reaction from granite; he could put you off not by what he said but by what he didn't. And spending an hour with Tiger Pataudi could also be a pain in the gut because he could make you laugh until it hurt.
And that is what Pataudi was: aloof yet witty, plain but direct, regal yet casual. He was so many opposites that eventually you stopped trying to classify him.
He was the man you could weave legends around: being hit on the jaw by Andy Roberts, then hitting Vanburn Holder for a straight six, then hitting four fours in succession in front of 90,000, hitting 85 at the MCG, which Ray Robinson described as one of the gutsiest innings ever at that ground, becoming a legend in the covers - and to think that he did all this with only one eye. Sunil Gavaskar described it well: if you want to appreciate the genius of Pataudi, spend a day with an eye closed and then try to light a candle.
He was the absentee editor of the magazine for which I worked, Sportsworld. He lived in Delhi; we slaved in Calcutta. He had discovered the magic of decentralisation and empowerment before liberalisation. The magazine, structured by twenty-something-year-olds, was one in the editing of which Pataudi scarcely took an active interest. His name would decorate the tombstone. And then suddenly one day the Sportsworld peon would come in carrying a scroll from the telex room headlined with the words "editorial by mak pataudi". Typewriter keys would freeze mid-air as people pounced to read the mind of a man who usually dared to differ.
Even though he never edited the magazine, he probably read every word that went into it. In 1987, Pataudi, Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath and I went on a trip to Tihar jail at the behest of Kenneth Larkins (jailed on charges of espionage), who was arranging cricket matches to enhance a sense of reform. Pictures were clicked. Three days later Pataudi nixed the scoop on the grounds that this was akin to glorifying someone who had sold the country. Two years later, convinced that Pataudi was not looking, a picture of the visit was used. The following week a telex message arrived, addressed to me: "I thought we had an agreement."
He was a man who trusted his instincts; like on the last morning of the Eden Gardens Test against West Indies in 1974-75, when he continued to persist in having an erratic Bhagwat Chandrasekhar bowl to a plundering Clive Lloyd. A couple of overs later Chandra bowled Lloyd, the West Indians panicked, and India won an unforgettable Test. I tried reading his mind. Why had he persisted with Chandra? Pataudi would not tell, not because it was a profound secret but because deep down he probably knew that it was only a gambler's gut, which could not be intellectualised.
Pataudi seldom proffered advice on his own volition, but the rare occasion when he did was when Kapil Dev was dropped from the Indian team after a reckless shot that supposedly lost India the Test, and in the reams that were written immediately thereafter, the one that cut through the clutter was a private message that Pataudi, then editing Sportsworld, sent to Kapil: "Whatever you do, don't speak to the media." The one-liner saved Kapil from making things worse, and he was promptly recalled a Test later.If you got to know him well, he would tell you difficult-to-believe stories of maharajas and cricketers. He was in England when the privy purse was abolished and someone at the ground asked how his name should go up on the scoreboard, now that "Nawab of Pataudi" had become an anachronism. He replied: "As far as I care, you can call me John Smith."
Pataudi was the last bridge between the medieval and the modern. Never again will we have a 21-year-old leading India, never again will there be a cricketing blue-blood keeping his place on merit, never again will there be someone who could probably claim, "My father played for England… and India".
An age has ended. In more senses than one.
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'The most charismatic cricketer
of his generation'
A selection of tributes to former India
captain MAK Pataudi
"It is a terrible news for me, he brought me up and guided me. I can't even express myself, it is one of my saddest days. He was a great human being, a great cricketer, a great fielder, shrewd captain, it is really sad. He always guided the youngsters. I was very close to him, so I can't really forget the way he brought me up. He was my first captain under whom I played. Whatever career I had, it stands on him."
Former India batsman Gundappa Viswanath is crestfallen at the passing of MAK Pataudi
"It is an extremely painful loss for me. Unbearable and shocking loss. He was one of the greatest captains to lead India. He gave a new face to Indian cricket and emphasised on the role of quality fielding. He was primarily responsible for developing India's spin quartet in an aggressive role similar to what the West Indians had later in form of the pace quartet. He always believed that teams have to bowl at least 80 to 85 attacking overs out of 100 overs."
Erapalli Prasanna, the former India spinner, lauds Pataudi's captaincy skills
"It is a great personal loss, he was a very dear personal friend, he was my first captain, I learnt a lot from him. He was by far the best Indian captain to my mind of thinking. He was the first leader of Indian cricket who told everybody in the dressing room, 'look you are not playing for Delhi, Punjab, Madras, Calcutta or Bombay, you are playing for India. You are Indian.' That left a very very good mark on the minds of youngsters who played under him."His faith in the spinners was absolute and we all prospered under his captaincy, he guided us so comfortably and serenely, the spin quartet had the highest regard for him... We won't find the likes of him in a long, long time. His voice cannot be filled. A great, great chapter of Indian cricket has come to a close."
Former India captain Bishen Bedi says we won't see another Pataudi
"It is a big shock for me. It is too early for him to depart.. just 70 years. A great captain, always attacking and aggressive.. never defensive at any stage. He always focused on trying to win the match and would go all out to win. We had four spinners then, and I, especially, was extremely lucky to have had him as a captain."
Former India legspinner Bhagwat Chandrasekar is grateful to have had Pataudi as a captain
"Tiger Pataudi was my first captain. When I played my first Test in 1969, he was not just a nawab, royalty, but also already a superstar. When I walked out one morning to have breakfast at the CCI (Cricket Club of India) where the Indians players lived during a Mumbai Test, he invited me over to share a table with him and I'll never forget that. He was captain of India, a nawab and I was a debutant. He taught the Indian team how to win, he brought about its transformation convinced us that we could beat strong sides, even with limited resources, even by having basically three bowlers. He was aggressive but didn't shout on the field, nothing of the sort, his thinking about the game was that if you were playing for the country, you didn't have to be treated like children; you didn't need motivation or baby talk.
"He treated us all as equals, as a captain he was totally professional on the field, aggressive, attacking. It didn't strike me then, but when I played against other captains, I realised just how attacking he was, I realised he was the best captain I had every played under. Off the field he was an extrovert, he loved going out, socialising, late night partying and often he said to me, 'you take cricket too seriously, you're young, enjoy your life. If you are too emotional about it and take it too seriously, you will be an unhappy man'."
Former India opening batsman, Chetan Chauhan, remembers Pataudi's zest for life
"Tiger Pataudi was the most charismatic cricketer of his generation. To bat with almost zero vision in one eye and still to score nearly 3000 runs and half a dozen centuries in Test cricket tells you what a genius he was. He will be terribly missed and it's a huge loss to the game of cricket."
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar puts Pataudi's achievements in context
"I recently watched him on television and he looked great, but the sudden news of his death is a shock to me. When Pataudi started his career, we didn't have India-Pakistan ties but we got a chance to play together in a World XI and I found him a great human being, a charismatic character and a genuine cricket buff."
Former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad reminisces about meeting Pataudi
"Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was a man of exceptional talent who turned out to be an inspiration to millions of cricketers, not only in India but across the globe. It was an honour and privilege to have known him. He became a true darling of India cricket due to his on the field heroics and off the field easy manners. After retirement, he maintained his close association with the game in different capacities, including as a commentator. Whenever he shared his views on the game, they were taken seriously as they were considered to be coming right from the bottom of the heart of one of India's greatest servants of the game. He will be sorely missed."
ICC president Sharad Pawar remembers Pataudi's contribution to the game
"I had grown up as a young cricketer hearing about his achievements and had only met him for the first time during The Oval Test on 22 August where he had come to present the Pataudi Trophy to the England team, while I presented Andrew Strauss with the Reliance ICC Test Championship mace. During the Test, I had the privilege of discussing with him the past, present and future of Test and 50-over cricket. It was absolutely fascinating to hear his views and confidence in these formats."
ICC chief Haroon Lorgat recollects his recent discussions with Pataudi in England
"I am shocked to hear the news of Tiger Pataudi's demise. He was an exemplary individual, who guided Indian cricket to unprecedented heights, as batsman, fielder and captain. He revolutionised fielding standards in the Indian team, and across the country. In an age wherein a draw was considered as good as a win, Tiger Pataudi encouraged his players to go flat out for victory. He was an aggressive batsman who excelled in crisis situations, and showed the nation how to combat adversity. I join my colleagues in the BCCI to express my condolences at his passing away. His services to Indian cricket will never be forgotten."
BCCI president N Srinivasan pays tribute to Pataudi
"We are very sad to hear of Tiger Pataudi's untimely death. He was a legendary figure for his country, and is fondly remembered for all he contributed to Sussex Cricket. I met him at the recent Test match at The Oval when he was very much looking forward to visiting us at Hove later this year. It has come as a great shock to us all and our condolences from everyone associated with Sussex Cricket go to his family."
Sussex Chairman Jim May offers his commiserations on the death of Pataudi, who played 88 first-class matches for Sussex between 1957 and 1970
"He was a legend for us and we have never seen him play. He was a romantic figure, an absolute legend. I have always heard stories of Tiger, how he changed Indian cricket. He had a huge impact beyond his sheer performance in the cricket field. He was a huge inspirational figure. Even after so many years whenever you talk to legends of cricket, they always talk about him with awe and respect. He will definitely go down as an all time great, who had influenced not only on the cricket field but beyond it as well. He made the game popular in India with his sheer personality and performances. He led the team in the different way. He was a leader for us and he always stood with the current lot of players. In 2002, when we had problem with ICC with the central contract system, Mr. Pataudi backed us along with Madan Lal. I met him briefly in England at the Oval, after the Test series. We spoke briefly and now when I think about it, I regret that I couldn't spend more time talking to him."
Rahul Dravid wishes he could have spent more time with Pataudi
"I am extremely saddened hearing the news about Pataudi passing away. My heartfelt condolence to his family and may his soul rest in peace. I had known him personally and even met him a few times. There was lot of class and dignity about the man. Due to an accident he lost one eye and was yet successful at the international level, just goes on to show how good a player he was. The most positive thing about him was that he was very honest and always had the good of Indian cricket at heart."
Sourav Ganguly remembers Pataudi for his class and dignity
"It's a terrible loss to the cricketing world. I had the privilege of meeting him on a few occasions. World cricket will miss a hero like him. I really respected him."
Sachin Tendulkar mourns the loss of a cricketing hero
"I am devastated, I had no idea he was in hospital.he was a contemporary of my cousin Javed Burki, and what I heard from my cousins, and from his contemporaries,was that had he not lost his eye apparently, he was a genius of great proportions.Anyone who knows batting, knows that it's difficult to play with one eye, specially [to play] fast bowling. What he achieved with one eye, the sort of ability he had, what sort of a player he could have become.In Pakistan, to us he was also a cricketer who was a crowd puller." Pataudi was a crowd favourite across the border as well.
Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain,
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