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Remembering Tiger Pataudi

Farooq Sobhan
***I arranged for Pataudi to be invited to join the team of election observers from the Commonwealth. He enjoyed his short trip to Dhaka very much and expressed the hope that he would have an opportunity to visit again.****
THE first time I met Tiger Pataudi was in October, 1961. We met in his rooms at Balliol College in Oxford. He had invited some friends to listen to some Indian classical music. He provided the accompaniment on the tabla. Tiger by then was already the most famous student at Oxford. The Nawab of Pataudi was rated as the best batsman to have ever played for Oxford. He was without doubt something of a legend at Oxford. He cut a dashing figure, with his aristocratic features. But what made him special was the kind of cricket he played. Cavalier, swashbuckling, flamboyant are some of the words that come to mind. He was a treat to watch.
A close friend and contemporary of ours at Oxford, Mueen Afzal, had this to say about Tiger, or as we affectionately referred to him, as the "Noob": "Sad to hear of the death of the original Noob. The year 1961 was when he was at his best. I was fortunate to see him bat against the leading bowlers in English cricket: Statham, Thiman, Titmus, Illingworth, Tattersall, Wilson et al. That summer, the Aussies came to Oxford and played the Varsity on the Christ Church grounds on Iffley Road. Benaud, Mackenzie and some others played although Davidson was rested, but the Noob found the bowling no trouble at all. When the bowlers brought midwicket or mid-on in,
he would just go down the wicket and place the ball over their heads to the boundary. His fielding was outstanding in the covers and his throw would come in like a bullet."
While still at Oxford, Tiger had been selected to play for India at the ripe old age of 20. He was then involved in terrible car accident and lost the sight of his right eye. The entire cricketing world thought that Tiger's cricketing days were over. Well Tiger had other plans. He was back at the nets within a few months of his accident. Not only did he play for India within months of the accident but was also selected during the Indian
tour of the West Indies in 1962 to captain the Indian team. At the age of 21 he was to become the youngest person to captain a test side in the history of cricket.
During my stay in Delhi as High Commissioner from 1992-1995,1 had the pleasure of meeting Tiger on a number of occasions, but perhaps my
most memorable recollection of him was a cricket match in Lahore in December 1992.1 had gone to Lahore to attend the wedding of the daughter of a close Oxford friend of mine, Farid
Riaz, who was married to Tiger's sister. Farid's son-in-law was none other than the son of Shahryar Khan, former foreign secretary of Pakistan and later to be president of the Pakistan Cricket Control Board.
The day after the wedding a cricket match was held on the grounds of Aitchison College in Lahore. The match was to be the Bhopal XI captained by Sharyar Khan versus the Pataudi XI, captained by Tiger. After some debate it was
agreed that the only person qualified to umpire the match was myself. I readily agreed.
When Tiger came out to bat, there was clearly a great sense of excitement and expectation. Tiger at the time was one month short of his 52nd birthday and had not played cricket for some 15 years. Imagine the disap-
pointment when failing to play any stroke to the first two balls, Tiger was plumb LBW to the next ball. Well as umpire I emphatically rejected the appeal. The next ball there was a clear snick, again the shout of "how's that" was heard from the fielding side. I said "no ball." This caused some surprise to the bowler, since he was well within the bowling crease. I was then obliged to inform the bowler that the large crowd present had come to see Tiger bat and not to see him get out. We were then treated to some vintage strokes before Tiger was out for the third time. This time I very reluctantly raised my finger. As he walked back to the pavilion the thought did cross my mind that this was certainly the last time that we would see Tiger at the batting crease.
Perhaps the only time that I can recall that Tiger visited Bangladesh was in June 1996.1 arranged for him to be invited to join the team of election observers from the Commonwealth. When I rang Tiger in Delhi to ask him whether he would be interested in coming, he said "most certainly'." He enjoyed his short trip to Dhaka very much and expressed the hope that he would have an opportunity to visit again.
Tiger was an iconic figure. Nawab Sahib or my dear friend, the Noob, may your soul rest in peace.
The writer is President, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute