The Tiger of Indian Cricket: A tribute

Over the years, many Indian cricketers have done their country proud. Mansoor Ali Khan was one such player. Today he is no longer on this earth, but the people who knew of him as a part of the Indian cricket team still talk about him today, and probably will do so for many years to come. This article is dedicated to him and the services he rendered to cricket, and not just Indian cricket.

Mansoor Ali Khan”Tiger” Pataudi started playing competitive cricket right from his school days. He was well known for his excellent hand-eye co-ordination when batting as he had exceptionally keen eyes. He made his first class county debut in 1957 at the age of 16. Four years later he lost his right eye, in a car accident in East Sussex. It caused him to see a ‘double image’, and most people were convinced that this loss would cost him his cricket career. However, the Tiger had other ideas – the loss of an eye was not enough to keep him away from cricket. He started learning to bat in the nets with one eye.

Despite losing his eye, Mansoor Ali Khan was selected to make his Test debut when England came to tour India in 1961. He made batting easy for himself by pulling his cap over his right eye. He scored a century in Chennai to take India to its first series win against England. On March 1962, Mansoor became the youngest Indian to captain the national team in Test matches at the tender age of 21. He went on to captain India in 40 out of the 46 tests he played. However, due to the weak team he was leading, he was not very successful as a captain and was later relieved of the captaincy. He did not play Test cricket for two years from 1970 to 1972 but made his return a year later, before being finally dropped in 1975.

Tiger Pataudi came from a rich Indian family of Nawabs. However, throughout his life, he never showed any airs of having been born in a royal family. He was not known to have been involved in any controversy imaginable, and was known to have a good sense of humour. After his accident where he lost his eye, he was once asked when he had realized that he could bat despite the loss. Patuadi’s joking reply was, “when I saw the English bowling”.

Mansoor Ali Khan was suffering from a lung disease for a long time, and departed this earth at the age of 70 on the 22^nd of September 2011. I regret that I could not see him play for India. One hopes that cricket will produce more greats such as him, to keep alive the epithet, “A Gentleman’s Game”.