Bishan Singh Bedi’s legacy in cricket and beyond
In his book On Cricket, former England captain Mike Brearley delivers what is arguably the most succinct summation of Bishan Singh Bedi as a bowler: “The first epithet that comes to mind for Bishan Singh Bedi’s bowling is ‘beautiful’. More than with any other slow bowler, that is the word that stays.” Bedi the man, though, cannot be summed up in a few words, not in any way that would do justice to his character. Brave, outspoken and never afraid to tread what he thought was the right path, the former Indian captain, who passed away at 77 on Monday, will always be remembered as one of the most legendary characters to grace the game. If Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi gave the India team an identity, then Bedi gave it a character that has stayed to this day. And spin has remained a weapon of choice.
Urban legends credit Bedi’s time spent playing marbles as a kid in Amritsar with the pin-point accuracy he was to develop as a bowler. He was playing first-class cricket at fifteen and his India debut came five years later. His bursting onto the international stage came right when cricket was beginning to take off in the country. Bedi slotted straight into what became India’s legendary spin quartet in the 1960s and 1970s. His left-arm spin, alongside Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan’s off-spin and B S Chandrasekhar’s leg-spin, gave India the deadliest spin attack in the world. Between them, the four bowlers finished with 853 Test wickets, Bedi accounting for 266 of them. He was dominant on overseas pitches too. As captain, his most memorable moment came in 1976 when India beat the mighty West Indies in Port of Spain chasing down 406.
His steadfast nature meant that he always stood his ground—this meant that he had his share of controversies too. From accusing England of using Vaseline to polish the ball in 1976 to conceding an ODI to Pakistan with just 23 left to protest Sarfraz Nawaz’s repeated bouncers, Bedi took a stand where lesser mortals would have kept quiet. This trait characterised his post-retirement life. Bedi was never afraid to speak his mind: from calling out Muttiah Muralitharan for chucking to stating that no cricket stadium should be named after a politician. It is because of this bravery that, in this era of sportspersons opting to please the powers that be, Bedi will be immensely missed.