- Indian Journalists` Association

ON
Tribute
to
Tiger
Indian Journalists’ Association
Established 1947
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19/06/2013 16:17:00
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19/06/2013 16:03:37
Editor’s Note:Remembering Tiger
T
iger Pataudi would never have
played for India had the Board
of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) and their selectors
known what had exactly
happened to his vision in one eye as a result
of a fateful car accident in England the
previous summer. They never asked him; and
he did not volunteer this information, for,
notwithstanding his tragic injury, he retained
a burning desire to play for India.
He told me, when he was discharged from
hospital, he tried to pick up a lighter which
was lying on a table to ignite a cigarette.
There was no lighter there. He was seeing
two lighters and had reached for the wrong
one. This was an early lesson on how he had
to adjust to his handicap if he was to play
cricket again – to determine which was the
real object as opposed to the shadow that
appeared as a double vision.
Having confronted the likes of Freddie
Trueman in his teens, he had little faith in
India’s medium pacers, though he approved
of Ramakant Desai, whom he generally
called by his nickname of “Tiny”. Thus, he
moulded the Indian bowling attack around
quality spinners – granting them a cordon of
close catchers - which, at least, gave India an
advantage at home.
When the Indian selectors invited Pataudi
to return as skipper for the 1974-75 series
against the West Indies, he in his typically
straight forward style told them if they were
expecting him to get runs, they should think
again. His eye sight had deteriorated and he
hadn’t been playing a lot of cricket, anyway.
He was re-appointed all the same. Indeed,
India came back from a 0-2 deficit to square
the series against a resurgent Caribbean unit,
before losing the fi nal test.
Over the 40 years I had the
pleasure of knowing Pataudi
personally, I came to know him better
after he retired from cricket. My fi rst
test as a ball-by-ball commentator
on All India Radio was his maiden
experience as an expert. We,
thereafter, worked for the Ananda
Bazar Group of Publications – he as
editor of its sports magazine and I as
its London correspondent.
Besides, he was the official
Pataudi with wife
witness at my wedding. “I hope
Sharmila at their wedding
you are not making the mistake of
marrying a Bengali,” he jestfully
forewarned, referring, of course, to
England; and we discussed at length what
the fact that he had done the same!
changes were needed to reconstruct. I can
Once in Kolkata, my father’s banger,
disclose he was clearly of the view younger
which I had borrowed, ran out of gas. It was
players needed to be phased in immediately.
quite late in the evening and Tiger helped me
It has taken nearly two years for this
push the vehicle to a nearby service station.
transition to occur.
As we fi lled up, dozens of disbelieving local
It was a great loss to Indian cricket that
residents descended on us, including women
the BCCI did not deem it fit to make him a
in night dresses, who couldn’t believe their
national selector or elect him president of the
eyes. The Nawab of Pataudi pushing a car
Board.
and then casually standing around in the
Pataudi let me into his inner self.
forecourt of a petrol pump! Tiger, shy but
Therefore, no topic was off limits and
superb at handling these situations, smiled
nothing was held back. What was often
and chatted with the assembly - making their
perceived to be detachment on his part was
day - before we resumed our journey.
in actual fact his sense of dignity. Yet, when
In the summer of 2011, I persuaded him to he laughed, he did so wholeheartedly, having
accept the England & Wales Cricket Board’s
perhaps cracked a joke or recalled a prank
invitation to him to attend the fi nal test of
he had played – in his younger days - on an
the India-England series at The Oval to hand
unsuspecting person.
over the Pataudi Trophy - named after his
He wore India colours against England,
father - for which this inter-face in England
the West Indies, Australia and New Zealand.
is now all about. When I phoned him to do
Some highlights of such encounters are
so, he characteristically remarked he was “a
touched upon in this tribute. IJA is grateful
little under the weather” – when in reality he
for the contributions of legends like Richie
was quite ill. He nevertheless undertook the
Benaud, Clive Lloyd, Erapalli Prasanna
journey.
and Asif Iqbal. Also, transcribed is a video
Normally, whenever Pataudi
interview with Pataudi himself.
visited London, we would meet
Furthermore, Pataudi’s son Saif Ali Khan,
at a club, restaurant or pub or he
a leading fi lm actor in India, has for the fi rst
would come home. This time, he time put pen to paper on his illustrious father.
called to say I would have to go
We hope readers cherish this offering as a
and meet him at his hotel, where collector’s item.
we indulged in an extended
lunch a day before he returned to
India - never to come back to the
land of his upbringing.
While he encouraged me to
IJA wish to thank The Hindu for allowing
order wine, he himself, rather
the use of it’s photographs; and The
unusually, ordered a soft drink.
Guardian
for the permission to reproduce
He was, plainly, concerned
it’s report on Pataudi’s century at
about the state of Indian cricket
Headingley, Leeds in 1967
after the embarrassment in
Ashis Ray
Ashis Ray with Pataudi at the launch of the former’s
book One-Day Cricket: The India Challenge in 2007
The Indian Journalists’ Association Tribute to Tiger 2013 designed and printed by GG Press, a division of Asian Media & Marketing Group,
Garavi Gujarat House, No 1 Silex St., London SE1 0DW. Tel: 020 7928 1234; Fax 020 7261 0055; email: [email protected]
Indian Journalists’ Association 2013
Ashish story1.indd 3
3
19/06/2013 17:10:25
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19/06/2013 16:08:40
He Gave India Confidence
When It Needed It
BY SAIF ALI KHAN PATAUDI
Saif on the day he inherited
the Pataudi mantle
T
he fi rst time my father dropped me
off to boarding school in England,
it was in a vintage Rolls Royce. I
remember the English boys were
quite enamoured by the idea of
an Indian prince; and I being 9 years old, quite
enjoyed the attention and neglected to tell them
the car was not ours.
As school started, I found myself not
denying the many glorious legends about my
father (they said the church bells would be rung
at Winchester when he came out to bat!!); and
by the time the half term break came around,
the entire school had lined up to see which car
the Nawab of Pataudi would bring to pick up
his son. And arrive he did - to my horror - in
a beaten up, paint peeling jalopy of a Morris
Minor!!!! Leaking radiator and all.
I spent a long time hiding from him and
made sure we were the last to leave!! You see,
it really did not matter to him whether he was
seen in a Rolls or a Mini. He had a kind of
genuine confidence that was way beyond the
superficial.
His record for throwing a cricket ball
the farthest in school is still unbroken!
His name shone down from the walls and
plaques that recorded the names of brilliant
past players, often in gold leaf as a mark of
further distinction. The English placed a lot of
importance to sport, especially cricket. And his
reputation was such that it crossed a generation
in time and still protected me - making me
special, above discrimination - an invaluable
gift in an England still coming to terms with
Indian immigration and its own loss of empire.
My father placed a lot of emphasis on
education, often telling me not to expect a
financial inheritance as he was going to spend
it all on my schooling - leaving me with a
slightly worried expression! Today I am so
deeply thankful that he exposed me to that very
special world.
I will not talk about his international career
except to say he made India proud. We were
a young and developing country badly in
need of confidence; and at least on the cricket
field he gave this to us. He played against and
sometimes beat the best in the world! Earning
respect and making good friends all along the
way.
He was not a snob. To him, the world was
divided into two categories of people - idiots
and good men, irrespective of pedigree!
Indian Journalists’ Association 2013
Saif Ali Khan Story1.indd 5
It was a privilege to have him as a father.
He never ever lost his cool; and never raised
his voice in anger. He was often monosyllabic,
which once led to some confusion. I asked him
if I could take the car and go and see a friend.
This was in Bhopal. I must have been 6 years
old. “No,” was the curt answer. But I went
anyway and when I came back I was in trouble.
“How could you disobey me so blatantly?”
he asked. “Oh!” I replied, “I thought you said
‘go’.”It wasn’t very funny at the time.
I played cricket against him once. A Fathers
versus Sons fi xture at school. He took apart the
bowling (our opening bowler was 12), hitting
a big six over long on to break my friend’s
mother’s windscreen. He also ran out our
captain with that famous throw in from cover
point, rifled in flat over the top of the stumps,
having pretended to fumble with the ball to
encourage the run in the fi rst place! He must
have been a competitive opponent.
There was so much he never talked about.
He was an introverted, quiet man. But if you
managed to engage him, he would tell such
wonderful stories. About how he and the late
Madhavrao Scindia dressed the latter’s staff
as bandits on horseback and “kidnapped” half
the Indian team in Gwalior! Or how he once
put a dead crocodile in a drunk and amorously
inclined wicket-keeper’s bed with hysterical
results! And then he would laugh - and go
bright red and we would seriously worry that he
is going to give himself a heart attack.
That’s how, by the way, he thought he would
die, like his father before him, who had a heart
attack while playing polo and literally breathed
his last in the saddle with his boots on.“We
Pataudis live life to the fullest and tend to die
young,” he had written once.
In the end his heart was the strongest. As
he lay on what was to become his death bed,
he looked over to my mother and asked for
the oxygen mask to be removed as he had
something important to say. She leaned over
and looked in his eyes, expecting something
loving and emotional. “I’d like some mince
pies from Jaipur,” he said. These were his last
words to her.
As he quietly battled the unbeatable
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, I got a close look
at Tiger Pataudi the indefatigable sportsman.
The captain, marshalling meagre resources at
his disposal against stronger opposition. And as
I watched him lose this last test, I admired him
once again, as many before me must have done,
for how he fought till the end.
He shone in every phase of his full and
colourful life. I only wish he could have
enjoyed his 70s more, played a few more
rubbers of bridge, read more books propped up
on his side as was his custom, spent a few more
seasons in the Duke of Kendal pub, nursing a
few more prohibited whiskys and taught me a
little more about this world in which we live!
He went to Winchester school in England like his
father did; but followed in his mother’s footsteps
to join the film industry. He is presently one of
India’s leading actors. His wife Kareena Kapoor is
also a successful Bollywood actress.
5
19/06/2013 15:42:02
India’s Greatest Cricketing Ambassador
BY ASIF IQBAL
T
he ‘Noob’, as he was popularly
known by his school friends in
Winchester and mates in Oxford,
was not only a remarkable
cricketer, he was also a
remarkable man in more ways than one.
For one thing, he was one of India’s
greatest captains, notwithstanding the fact
that he had to take on the reins in extremely
trying circumstances at the age of just 21. He
became the Indian captain on the tour of the
West Indies in 1962 after Nari Contractor
was felled by a sickening blow to the head
by paceman Charlie Griffith and suffered an
injury so severe that he was deemed lucky to
have come out of it alive. Contractor never
played test cricket again. Pataudi, who had
made his Test debut only the previous year,
was called upon to take charge of the ship.
Keep in mind that this was less than a year
after he virtually lost the use of an eye in a
horrific car crash. The fact that he decided to
continue his cricketing career in spite of his
handicap speaks volumes of his dedication to
the sport as also his courage.
Anyone who has played the game at any
level would know what I am taking about. It
is difficult enough to gauge the length of a
cricket ball coming at you at over 80 miles per
hour with two eyes each with 6/6 vision; to
adjust to this task with only one functional eye
is amazing. He had to adjust to playing more
on the basis of instinct rather than technique.
It is said that when Pataudi played his first
game some four months after his accident, a
first class encounter against a visiting England
side led by Ted Dexter, he regularly saw two
balls coming at him during the first part of his
innings. He decided to play the inner ball and
by this means scored 35. He then decided to
take off the contact lens in his damaged eye
and went on to compile a score of 70.
As time went on he made further
adjustments. One of them was the angle at
which he slanted his cap which some thought
was a style thing but was actually meant to
completely block the vision of his damaged
eye. Another was to come to terms with his
handicap and to modify his goals accordingly.
While previously he had hoped to become
one of the best batsmen India ever
produced, he trimmed this ambition
to try and be a useful player and, as
he once said, a better fielder than his
father!
His Test average of a tad below
Asif Iqbal:
Indian born
played for
Pakistan
also infused into Indian cricket a self belief
which convinced his squad that they were not
there just to compete but to win and further
that they were quite capable of achieving
victory. And he did so by focusing on India’s
strengths.
If India’s strength lay in its spinners, there
was no reason why the team should not play
three – or even four – spinners and leave out a
seamer who in any case only played a sinecure
role.
Above all, he was by some distance the
greatest cricketing ambassador India has ever
produced. His boundless charm and sense of
humour enthralled all those who were lucky
He also infused into Indian cricket a self
belief which convinced his squad that they
were not there just to compete but to win...
Pataudi going out to bat
with Budhi Kunderan
Indian Journalists’ Association 2013
Asif Iqbal story1.indd 7
35 was a result of that compromise,
for we can only guess what he might
have averaged if he did not have his
tremendous handicap.
As a captain, Pataudi made great
contributions to Indian cricket.
Having played all his early cricket
in England for Oxford and Sussex,
he brought to the Indian game
an emphasis on fielding at a time
when this was considered a boring
necessity. His own excellent fielding,
based on his acute ball sense, was
a model for others to follow. He
enough to come in contact with him and
although the Indian government took away
all princely titles in 1971, the way he carried
himself both on and off the field left no doubt
in anyone’s mind that this was really a prince
among men.
Born and brought up in Hyderabad, he made
his first-class debut in India before migrating
to Pakistan and playing for and captaining this
country with distinction. He was also a much
valued professional for Kent for many years. Asif
Iqbal is today a television commentator on cricket.
7
19/06/2013 17:36:07
Pataudi steers India into lead with fine century
Rowbotham, Denys
The Guardian (1959-2003); Jun 13, 1967;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2
pg. 15
Nawab of Headingley
8
Guardian article.indd 8
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.Indian
Further
reproduction proh
Journalists’ Association 2013
19/06/2013 15:42:40
When Pataudi Hooked Bumpers Off His Nose
W
BY RICHIE BENAUD
hereas in those days we
didn’t have set timings
for international matches,
like the Boxing Day Test
in Melbourne and the New
Year Test in Sydney, followed by the Adelaide
Test on Australia Day, the pattern still seemed
to work. Even when the Olympics were held
in 1956 in Melbourne, the Victoria v NSW
Sheffield Shield match was held at the St Kilda
Oval while the Melbourne Cricket Ground
(MCG) was being readied for the Olympiad.
The match resulted in the fi rst ‘tie’ in Sheffield
Shield history.
Eleven years after that India toured
Australia and the Second Test was played at the
MCG. The ground was in excellent condition
and the pitch had about it a tinge of green,
which is not unusual on the opening day.
‘Tiger’ had torn a hamstring and didn’t play
in Adelaide; he was half-fit for the Melbourne
Test but said he was definitely
playing, even though using a
walking stick for assistance off
the field and in the dressingroom. He won the toss and India
batted; Graham McKenzie and
Dave Renneberg were the two
opening bowlers for Australia
and both were in their prime.
McKenzie had a great
build for a fast bowler and he
had toured England under my
Benaud: Mr Cricket
captaincy in 1961, where he
had a wonderful series. Renneberg was a tall,
slim fast bowler and with his height was able
to make the ball lift sharply even from placid
surfaces.
When Pataudi strolled out to bat and
glanced to his right where the magnificent old
scoreboard existed, he could see: 1/2, 2/10,
3/18, (4/18 with a batsman injured) 5/25. None
of that seemed to disturb Pataudi
who set about the bowling to the
extent that at the close of the fi rst
day he was unbeaten on 70. He
eventually went on to score 75.
In the second innings he
made 85 and, in the course of that
innings, ‘Big Shine’ Renneberg
made the decision to see if Tiger
could really play the hook shot to
a bumper coming straight at his
nose. Pataudi 85 ... Renneberg
14-0-98-2. Australia won the Test
with some ease but it is a match to
stay in the memory; low scoring,
by one team, but what excitement!
The contributor was a leg spin bowler and middle
order batsman, who in the late 1950s and early
1960s carved out a niche as captain of Australia.
Thereafter, as a writer and broadcaster he
established himself as one of the best and most
knowledgeable ever. If anyone can stake a claim to
the title of “Mr Cricket” it is Richie Benaud.
No Other Man In The World
I
BY FRANK TYSON
n the Indian Dynastic Order of Common
Cricket Merit, the Noble Nawab of
Pataudi must, on the strength of his two
Melbourne innings, be henceforth known
as Pat the Omnipotent.
The twain of Eastern dexterity and Western
determination have been married in this one
player.
In retrospective mood overlooking a deserted
Melbourne Cricket Ground I asked myself what
other player in the world could have overcome
his dual physical disability with a combination
of occidental gutsy know-how and Oriental
dexterity and still come up with an aggregate of
160 runs?
Inevitably I am forced to admit no one.
Pataudi’s basic successful philosophy today
was grounded on the premise of stopping the
straight at all costs and punishing the hittable.
The permissive single he scorned and
Simpson’s restrictive acumen he loftily
disdained.
I doubt whether the Melbourne ground will
ever see such a versatile display of handicapped
genius.
The four-game rubber is now inevitably an
Australian monopoly, yet for me it has still not
lost an intrinsic attraction.
One instinctively feels that if Pataudi’s
determination could be blended with the Indian
Indian Journalists’ Association 2013
Richie Benaud story1.indd 9
Tyson: Fastest in the 1950s
taste for stroke play and even-time runs, then the
series still remains lively spectator material.
One even hesitates to suggest that the tourists
should shackle themselves with the serious
business of winning, when their devil-may-care
attitude has produced such a glut of runs as to
make an England-Australia rubber look like a
feast of ashes and sackcloth.
In the realms of results, fast bowling and
fixity of purpose, the Indians’ is a lost cause.
The two remaining games cannot redress the
current balance: (Ramakant) Desai is only halfMcKenzie stature and (Dilip) Sardesai cannot
nearly compare with Bobby Simpson.
But surely an iron hand can curb the Indian
wastrels in the field – a factor which would
make (Erapalli) Prasanna’s Test-standard spin a
match-winnin consideration.
Given the first use of a placid batting surface
and the last turn on a wearing wicket the tourist
could still emerge from this rubber with at least
a single honor.
From the Australian point of view the second
Test has vindicated Graham McKenzie as the
best constant fast bowling force in the world on
good and helpful wickets alike.
It has also demonstrated that Dave
Renneberg, despite certain expensive vagaries,
is a much improved bowler on the pre-South
African model.
The spin department, however, must still
have the selectors in a spin.
(John) Gleeson’s flat flight must continually
tell against him on good pitches no matter how
real his directional conundrums, while (Ian)
Chappell remains the far from ideal proposition
of a batsman who bowls but moderately.
Undoubtedly the best spinners on view were
the lost hope of Simpson and the undeviating
steadiness of (Bob) Cowper. I can foresee a
departmental investigation in this direction
before the third test.
The Indians will find it hard to find any
scapegoats save their own happy-go-lucky
selves for their Melbourne defeat. But I have a
surreptitious sentiment that they are far from
happy with some of the umpiring decisions which
went against (Rusi) Surti and in favour of Simpson.
He blew away Australia in 1954-55 on behalf of
England to earn the description of “Typhoon”
Tyson. Later, he migrated Down Under to work
as a coach and writer, including being the cricket
correspondent of The Age of Melbourne, where
this report appeared on 4 January 1968
9
19/06/2013 15:43:11
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19/06/2013 16:11:20
I Don’t Think We’ll Have
Another Person Like Tiger
T
BY ERAPALLI PRASANNA, AS TOLD TO IJA:
he first time I met Tiger was in 1961
at Hyderabad. He was captain of
the (BCCI) President’s XI and I
played under him. That season Ted
Dexter’s MCC squad were touring
India; and I made my test debut soon after.
There was then a five year gap before
I returned to test cricket, because I had to
complete my engineering course. I was recalled
for the final test of the series at Chepauk against
the West Indies in 1966-67. I took five wickets in
the match and we were about to win, but Garry
Sobers with Charlie Griffith held out. This was
the first time I played under Tiger in a test match.
Soon afterwards we toured England; and
even though I bowled well in the first two tests,
the figures didn’t justify that. I still vividly
remember Tom Graveney saying “I’ve played
many English spinners, I think you’ve really
impressed me most”, even though he got quite a
few runs against me. In the 3rd test at Edgbaston,
I think I took seven wickets.
Thereafter, came the twin tour of Australia
and New Zealand; and I took 49 wickets (25
in Australia) in eight tests, that despite catches
being dropped and leg befores not being given
when they were sweeping across the line and
playing forward and missing the line and being
hit on the shin.
Tiger impressed me most because he was
an aggressive captain. He believed you should
attempt to win and if you don’t win, it doesn’t
matter, you lose. And if you play really well, you
wont lose, you’ll at least draw the match.
He was deeply involved in the game as
captain. He knew exactly who was being a little
(L-R): Chandra, Bedi, Prasanna and Venkat.
They had batsman dancing to their tune.
lethargic or who is really making an effort. He
never said a word on the field, but he just gave
a look while passing by and that would tell you
whether he was appreciating you or you should
pull up your socks.
When I saw Tiger for the first time, I was very
impressed with his silk shirt, his Stuart Surridge
trousers, his shoes. Also, for the first time I saw a
person carrying his kit.
He blended in with us, despite being born
with a silver spoon in his mouth; he never made
us feel we were wanting in anything.
I am yet to come across a person like him. He
had a very subtle and dry sense of humour and
a brilliant personality. I don’t think we’ll have
another person like Tiger.
He had a solid foundation from England, but
when he started playing in the South (Zone),
representing Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy,
he started analysing the game, he started
formulating mentally what could be the winning
combination.
He understood where Indian cricket had gone
wrong all along. We didn’t have fast bowlers
at that point of time. But he saw the Karnataka
attack was a deadly attack for him; that Chandra
(Bhagwath Chandrasekhar) and I were really
menacing.
With M L Jaisimha (who was captain of
Hyderabad and South Zone) he formulated
tactics. His field placements were so precise. He
had assessed his attack would revolve around
Chandra, Bishan (Bedi) and myself.
He also knew Chandra was a wild horse; that
he had to be free to express himself. On many
occasions he told me “you bowl tight, don’t
Prasanna: wizard
of spin
worry about taking wickets”; and I did it. And
he attacked from the other end with Bishan and
Chandra.
If he had full vision, everybody would have
made him the reference point. In spite of his
handicap, the way he batted at Melbourne – 75
and 85 – against the likes of Graham Mckenzie,
they were wonder struck. He had one eye and
one leg – he had a hamstring problem in that
match. His fielding was out of this world.
He believed cricket was on the field; off
the field we had to meet, that fellowship and
socialising were important things. It was not a
question of drinking, but that we had to meet.
People misconstrued we were out to play for
India to enjoy ourselves.
He made a strong statement before the New
Zealand tour in 1968; and this shook everyone.
He kept himself a little aloof, which I still feel
a leader should do. Once when he asked me to
bowl tight and in one over I conceded a four, he
came in from midwicket to give me that look and
that was good enough to make me understand.
After the 3rd test at Kolkata in 1974-75 – in
which I was wicketless because Tiger had
asked me to bowl tight - people were saying
“Prasanna should be dropped for the next test”.
I believe Tiger told the selectors: “In Chennai
(where the 4th test was to be held), it will be
Prasanna’s match.” I picked up nine wickets,
Vishy (Gundappa Viswanath) got 97 not out and
we won!
An off spinner with mesmeric control of flight and
turn, he comprised the quartet of slow bowlers
dreaded by batsmen the world over. He was Tiger
Pataudi’s go to bowler whether he wanted a wicket
or to contain runs. Erapalli Prasanna now works
as a coach in Bangalore.
Indian Journalists’ Association 2013
Prassana story1.indd 11
11
19/06/2013 17:19:28
Lord and Lady Noon would
like to take this opportunity to
pay their respects to the memory
of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi,
a friend and an inspiration to
millions.
Noon Advert1.indd 1
19/06/2013 15:43:59
We Realised We Were Capable of
Beating New Zealand: Pataudi
I
n the summer of 1986, Tiger Pataudi,
clad in a kurta-pyjama and seated on a
sofa in a room at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal
hotel, gave an exclusive interview for a
video documentary – Great Moments
of Indian Cricket 1932-86. The importance of
his impressions lay in the fact that he was the
man who had led India to their fi rst ever series
triumph abroad – a 3-1 eclipse of New Zealand
in 1968. The conversation began by Pataudi
being asked why India had immediately before
the performance against the Kiwis lost in
Australia 4-0:
Pataudi: As the series progressed (in
Australia), we tended to get more confident and
do better. In fact, we should have won the 3rd
test at Brisbane, which we lost by 39 runs, if I
remember correctly.
So, we were getting into a team sort of
spirit by the end of the tour; and this was a
tour of Australia after 20 years – after (Lala)
Amarnath’s team had been there in 1947. So, a
lot of things were strange to us, nobody (in the
1967-68 Indian squad) had been there before
and it took time for the team to settle; and by
the time we went to New Zealand, I think we
all knew pretty well what we had to do.
Question: Was it also a factor that New
Zealand weren’t as strong as the Australians
that helped you to do better?
Pataudi: I think that was certainly one factor;
and the other more important factor was the
fact that we now came up against wickets
which were slower, a little spongier and gave
much more purchase to our spinners than the
Australian wickets, which were a bit harder.
Throughout that New Zealand series the
Pataudi with rival
Australian captain
Bobby Simpson
Indian Journalists’ Association 2013
Pattaudi Interview1.indd 13
Pataudi in recent times
spinners really did themselves very proud. I
think a number of catches were taken, more
catches than perhaps in any other four test
match series. So, we improved our fielding and
our confidence also improved.
Question: So, looking back at that 1st test in
Dunedin – and it happened to be India’s first
ever victory abroad – what would be your main
memories?
Pataudi: I think what comes straight to mind
is Ramakant Desai’s innings with a broken jaw.
He has always been a very tough player; but
this was a remarkable effort and the way he
played the innings gave us a lot of confidence,
a lot of hope. And apart from the fact that
Graham Dowling also got a very good
hundred, we realised that if we played to the
best of our abilities, we were quite capable of
beating New Zealand.
Question: And we also had some fine
performances from (Ajit) Wadekar and
(Erapalli) Prasanna…..
Pataudi: Yes, Wadekar came into his own
on the slower wickets. He found the harder
wickets in Australia – where he tended to
play slightly across the line of the ball on the
off-stump, he was getting caught behind or
playing and missing, the sort of bane of a lefthander any way – and one or two of our other
main batsmen didn’t score as one expected in
Australia. So, on these slower wickets people
like Rusi Surti, Wadekar and so on came into
their own and did pretty well.
Question: And what about Prasanna?
Pataudi: Prasanna again found – well he
couldn’t get many lbws, which annoyed him
– but he found he could turn the ball more. He
had bowled magnificently in Australia, also,
with a limited onside field; and here he got
more purchase, more turn, didn’t have the same
class of batsmen against him – they would tend
to lunge forward or just heave. We basically
put three men close and three men in the deep,
so either they were caught bat-pad or if they
heaved, they were caught on the boundary line.
Question: But having won that 1st test so
comfortably, you immediately went on to lose
the 2nd one. Why did this happen?
Pataudi: I think it was just one of those
things. I can’t explain exactly why; but we
knew in our minds by the time the 1st test
was fi nished that we intended to win the
series and we stood a very good chance. It
was one of those things; we went on to win
the other two test matches reasonably well.
You could call it an aberration of some kind;
perhaps we were not as professional as we
should have been.
13
19/06/2013 16:26:37
He’s A Man I Admired, Garry
Sobers Worshipped Him
I
BY CLIVE LLOYD, AS TOLD TO IJA:
have a sort of great affinity with
India. My first test was in India and
my first test as captain was also in
India.
As a person Tiger Pataudi – who
was India’s skipper for both series – was an
excellent individual, a great human being. I
have never seen him annoyed; I have always
seen him in a jovial mood. He embodied
everything that was great as far as the game
was concered, a wonderful person, a great
sportsman.
I was a standby for the 1966-67 tour of
India. There was already a squad, which had
visited England a few months earlier. But
when Seymour Nurse got injured I was called
to action. So, I made my test debut at Mumbai;
and once I got rid of the butterfl ies I did quite
well (82 and 78 not out in the match).
I think of the situation, when Tiger lost
his eye and still competed at the highest
level. It just shows you what a powerful
person he was. Before he lost his eye I saw
him in Guyana with E W Swanton’s side
and was fascinated by his fielding. He was
very quick, he covered that turf superbly,
Pataudi with wife Sharmila
at a dinner in London
14
Clive Lloyd Story1.indd 14
anticipated so well; he was
very impressive.
I once covered one of
my eyes and tried to bat and
realised how well Tiger
had done even against fast
bowling. He was a good
player of spin, using his feet.
When I saw him in Guyana –
and he was then quite young
- he played both pace and spin
rather well. It was the world
side against the West Indies. I
was in awe of him.
He captained India very well; you
wouldn’t have thought he had come from
abroad. I was very impressed with the way
he handled things on the field, he handled
matters with dexterity.
In 1974-75 in India, we won the first
two tests quite handsomely and then India
came back by winning the next two. India
had some very good spinners, so they
were not an easy side to beat. I expected
India to fight back; they had Bhagwath
Chandrasekhar, Bishan Bedi and Erapalli
Prasanna. I thought it
was an excellent series.
As a captain I was
inexperienced, Tiger was
experienced.
We were just building
a good side then and we
went on to win the World
Cup a few months later.
We had young Vivian
Richards, young Gordon
Greenidge, we had Alvin
Kalicharran, even Lance
Gibbs played in that
series, Vanburn Holder,
Andy Roberts; mostly
a young side that was
growing in stature.
Whenever I came to
India, we would have a
meal either in Bombay
or New Delhi. A couple
of months before Tiger
died, Ian Chappell and I
had a meal with him in
a nice hotel in Delhi, so
I was quite shocked to
hear about his passing,
Lloyd in his role as head
of ICC’s cricket committee
because I thought he looked pretty well.
We chatted about cricket, where it’s going
to go, what are the things we can do. I was
supposed to be involved with Tiger to set up
an academy in Delhi.
Way back in the 1970s we used to talk about
cricketers getting a percentage of gates; when
cricketers were not well paid. So, we were
well aware of the situation. Now of course the
IPL(Indian Premier League) has taken over.
But we have to promote test cricket; to
do so, we have to pay the players well to
participate in it. Look at Wimbledon: when
it was an amateur situation, nobody came.
So they decided to raise the prize money and
open it to professionals.
Tiger was concerned about the game, like
I was. He’s a man I admired, he was a friend
and we shared the same views, we never
wanted to harm the game, we wanted to see
progress; and I hope this happens.
We became very good friends. Whenever
I was in India, I would ring him up, we would
have a meal at home or at a restaurant. I met
his wife (Sharmila) – she’s a tremendous
lady, a very graceful woman.
He was a well liked person by all those
who played with and against him. Garry
Sobers worshipped him, Wes Hall, all those
guys thought the world of him.
A hard hitting batsman and brilliant fielder, he, as
captain, presided over the most dominant period
in West Indian cricket history, with outstanding
batsmen like Alvin Kalicharran, Gordon
Greenidge and Vivian Richards and a choice of
half a dozen deadly fast bowlers at his disposal.
That Clive Lloyd is a highly respected figure in
the game is reflected by the fact that he was until
recently chairman of the International Cricket
Council’s cricket committee.
Indian Journalists’ Association 2013
19/06/2013 16:38:19