Former Indian cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi has passed away, news agency PTI reported on Monday. Born on September 25, 1946, Bedi played 67 Tests and 10 ODIs for India between 1967 and 1979.
He was known as one of the best left-arm spin bowlers in the history of cricket. He was also a part of famous Indian spin troika along with Erapalli Prasanna, Chandrashekhar.
Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur confirmed the unfortunate news and said, “Former India captain and spinner Bishan Singh Bedi has passed away. It is a very sad news. It’s a huge loss for India. He started so many camps in Himachal. I and the whole cricketing family stand with his family.”
Over the course of 14 Tests, Bedi took 266 wickets, which is an average of 28.71. In ODIs, he also took 7 wickets. Bedi in 2018 spoke highly of Nawab Pataudi and also named MS Dhoni as a gentleman on the field who “never swore”.
“My favourite cricketer was Pataudi. He was the greatest thing that has ever happened to Indian cricket. Besides Pataudi, the other gentleman was Dhoni who never swore on the cricket field.”
He (Pataudi) was my first captain and all credit to him as I learnt a lot from him. He was the first Indian captain to bring in a fair amount of Indianness in the dressing room. He always used to tell, we are not playing for Maharashtra or Delhi or Bengal. We are playing for India.”
In the same vein, he also mentioned about Sourav Ganguly: “He is one of the finest Indian captains we have had and he was also responsible, in many ways, for the culture that prevails today.”
He was the part of Indian cricket’s golden quartet of spinners, others being Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chadrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, who formed the core of India’s bowling unit for more than a decade between 1966 and 1978.
Bedi was briefly the manager of the Indian cricket team in 1990 during tours of New Zealand and England.
He was also a national selector and mentor to many talented spinners like Maninder Singh and Murali Kartik, who all swore by his technical insight.
He was also honoured with the Padma Shri Award in 1970. Bedi also represented Northamptonshire in English county cricket for many years. In his condolence message Home Minister Amit Shah spoke about the mastery of Bedi’s craft.
“Deeply saddened by the demise of the legendary spinner and former captain of the Indian cricket team Bishan Singh Bedi Ji. Bedi Ji will live in our memories not only through his contribution to the cricketing world but also as the master of crafty bowling who could weave magic on the pitch. My heartfelt condolences to his family members and his fans in this hour of grief” the Home Minister posted on X.
