Any discussion about India’s greatest ever cricket captain is incomplete without the name Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi being mentioned.
Known famously as Tiger Pataudi, he became captain of the Indian team when he was just 21 years old and in many ways revolutionised his team’s approach towards the game. He instilled a winning mentality in his teammates and led India to their first overseas Test victory in 1967.
He led the Indian team in 40 of the 46 Tests he played in, winning nine of them. He scored 2,793 runs at an average of 34.91 in international cricket, and is regarded to date as one of the finest fielders India has ever produced. He also held the title ‘Nawab of Pataudi’ for nearly two decades till official recognition of princely titles ended.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Pataudi’s career was the fact that vision of his right eye was impaired permanently in an accident months before he made his Test debut. Despite the setback, he went on to achieve great heights for himself and the Indian team.
Pataudi wasn’t involved too closely with cricket after he played his last international match at the age of 34. Even so, he remained one of the most respected voices in the game till he died in 2011.
Long after his playing days were over, Pataudi appeared for an interview on a show called Anmol Ratan. The video of the interview, shared by a YouTube channel called Broadcast Imaging, shows the legendary cricketer opening up on an array of topics, including how he got the Indian team’s captaincy at such a young age and the accident that damaged his eye.
Here are excerpts:
Introduction to cricket
My first real coach was Frank Woolley, who was a popular cricketer from England. He had coached my father as well. I played a lot of cricket in school and then at Oxford during college. I spent more time playing than I did studying. By then I had realised that my life would be spent in cricket, so I focussed more on it. I learnt how to play cricket entirely in England, not India.
Becoming India captain
Those were strange circumstances. Nari Contractor was the captain of India at that time and we were going to tour the West Indies. So I believe the selectors thought that there should be a young vice-captain who can take over from Contractor eventually. But Contractor got injured during a match with Barbados and that’s how I became the captain. Although I wasn’t supposed to be the captain.
I didn’t have much experience when I was made India captain. I didn’t even know some of the players in the Indian team. Polly Umrigar helped me a lot at that time, he gave me sound advice. There must have been a few seniors in the side who were upset at me becoming the captain. But then I went on to lead for eight years and tried my best to make the Indian team win.
An unforgettable match
That match against Barbados was quite controversial actually. Charlie Griffith bowled a bouncer to Contractor and hit him on the back of his head. The sound of the impact reached the dressing room as well. Contractor had to undergo two operations. Garry Sobers, in his autobiography, said that it wasn’t a bouncer, but I remember clearly that it was. Griffith, who in my opinion was a chucker, was a very fast bowler. After Contractor retired hurt, Vijay Manjrekar went out to bat and even he got hit on his nose.
Then when I went in to bat, I remember seeing Contractor’s blood on the pitch. They had to put a lot of sawdust on it to cover it. I think I got out for zero in both innings of that match and returned to the dressing room very happily. Those were tough times, the morale of the entire team was down. Contractor survived luckily but couldn’t play a single Test after that incident. He now has to live with a thick metal plate in his head.
Losing his eye in an accident
The accident happened in Brighton. I was playing for Oxford against Sussex. It was the August weekend where there were three holidays. Brighton is a popular tourist destination and they happened opened two new roads for dual carriages. So there was a man who was new to the place and without looking, he came on to the main road. We were about four-five of us who had gone out for dinner after the game. Three of my mates decided they would walk home, and I sat on the front seat of the car next to the driver. So then the accident happened, the windscreen broke and a piece of the glass flew straight into my eye. The lens of my eye got destroyed.
At that time, people in India weren’t aware of the seriousness of the accident. I then got a one-year break from college and went straight to India. I started playing cricket then and soon made my Test debut, and went on to score runs in my first three matches. I managed to establish myself in the team but it took people around two years to realise that the accident I had had was serious.
The damage to my eye had a 50% impact on my game. I couldn’t do close-in fielding and even couldn’t throw the ball for a year since the accident had damaged my shoulder as well. My depth vision was affected. Since my eye had lost alignment, I used to see two versions of everything. As in if a car would be approaching me at night, I would see four headlights. If I would try to pour water into a glass, I would miss the glass. Or if I tried to light a cigarette, the flame would miss the tip. So I had to organise my life and learn how to live with it. Not many people in India knew what I was going through at that time. And I wasn’t going to tell them either.
Here’s the interview of the legend, where he talks about his cricketing journey, his love for Pataudi, and more: