Bishan Bedi

Bishan Singh Bedi was born during a period when his country was waging a non-violent war against the British. That belief in non violence probably influenced his bowling style as well. He used his natural gifts of flight and guile to bamboozle the batsmen during a time period where bowling fast and intimidating bouncers was favored. Born in Amritsar, Punjab on 25th September 1945, he was picked up by a state side, Northern Punjab at the age of fifteen. After he honed his skills playing for his home state, he moved to the capital city Delhi and represented them until his retirement in 1981. He made his India debut at the age of 21 against West Indies at Kolkata and in the next 12 years that he was part of international cricket, became well known as one of the famous spin quartet of India. He played extensively for the England county club of Northamptonshire. As of today he has the maximum number of first class wickets amongst Indians, an astonishing 1560 in 370 FC matches.

Connoisseurs of spin bowling always paint Bedi's portrait in the rosiest of words: A slow and measured run up, supple fingers and wrists and dollops of flight. People who have watched and faced his bowling claim that he had an ability to make subtle changes in the dip of a ball and the occasional delivery hung in the air just for a few more moments. These proved a bit too much for batsmen. Bedi was also known to bowl with immaculate control and in great rhythm, an asset for his captain who would thus employ him for extended spells throughout the day. Such was the potency of Bedi and the rest of quartet that India would opt for just one pacer in their line-up leaving part-timers like Gavaskar and Vengsarkar to take the shine off the new ball after which the spinners would ply their trade.

Bedi's style of play might be difficult to comprehend for a generation whose last great exponent of flight was perhaps Shane Warne. An interesting statistic from the turbaned left arm spinner's career might help visualize his effectiveness: His best match figures of 10/194 came against Australia at Perth in 78/79, a wicket considered to be the haven of fast bowlers. Bedi's 266 wickets in 67 Tests came at a miserly average of 28.71. In the 77/78 series down under, Bedi picked up 31 wickets at 23.87 runs apiece, an achievement in itself.

Another chapter in Bedi's career involves the captaincy of India. He succeeded Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi in 1976. Under his captaincy, India chased down the then highest 4th innings score of 406 against West Indies at Port of Spain. In the next Test, West Indies, understandably, responded by fielding a 4-pronged aggressive pace attack. After a few of his batsmen were injured by the intimidating bowling, he declared the first innings at 306. More drama was to follow as the Windies pacers refused to relent and persisted with the bouncers. Bedi objected to their tactics and declared the innings after just 2 wickets, giving the home team an easy victory. This was not to be an isolated incident. With 23 required of 14 balls in an ODI match against Pakistan, he became the first captain to forfeit an international match on account of Sarfraz Nawaz dishing out bouncers at an alarming rate. Another incident involved the England team in their 76/77 tour when Bedi accused John Lever of using Vaseline to illegally polish the ball in the Madras Test. Although Lever was cleared of any wrong-doing, Bedi's came to be known as aggressive in speech, as gentle his spin bowling was.

Bedi's appointment as the first full-time coach of the Indian cricket team came in 1990. After a disastrous tour he made an incendiary comment when he said that the Indian team deserved to be dumped in the sea.

Today, Bedi is a very vocal critic of the modern trends in cricket. One of the prominent haters of T20 cricket, he has censured prominent Indian cricketers like Saurav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh, the former for his alleged treatment of left arm spinner Murali Karthik. He is one of the crusaders against the 15 degree rule for the bent arm of bowlers and has received a notice from Muralitharan, who is often called a 'javelin thrower' by Bedi. Whatever be the case, his is one of the most prominently heard voices in World cricket.

Quotes:

'Tell us John, have you made this Australian team great, or have they made you?' - Referring to the erstwhile Australia coach John Buchanan

' Murali might complete 1000 wickets in Tests but they would count as mere run-outs in my eye. He is a Sri Lankan bandit closing in on a dream artist called Shane Warne' Referring to Sri Lankan off spinner Muralitharan.

By Siddharth Prabhakar