Bishan Singh Bedi, one of the greatest spinners of the Indian team, died on Monday at the age of 77. The snake-like bowling of left-arm spinner Bishan was once a threat to the opposition batsmen. This was the time when the spin quartet of Bishan Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Venkataraghavan ruled world cricket. Indian team captain Bishan Bedi was the frontline spinner of this quartet.
Bishan Paji, who took 266 wickets in 67 Tests for India, always stood with his players as a captain. He did not fail to stand up to the cricket administration whenever needed in the interests of the players. Perhaps this was the reason why he was so respected by the players of his time. Under his leadership, the Indian team not only defeated the greatest teams in the country, but the team’s performance abroad also improved during this period.
India’s spin quartet, including Bedi, knew how to deceive the opposition batsmen with their flight. These spinners also had a different way of celebrating after taking a wicket. After retiring from cricket, Bishan also contributed to the preparation of his spin bowlers. Spinners like Maninder Singh and Murali Karthik honed their playing skills under Bedi’s guidance. In terms of career records, Bedi played 67 Tests and 10 ODIs for India. He has 266 wickets in Test cricket at an average of 28.71 and seven wickets in ODI cricket at an average of 48.57. In Test cricket he managed to take five or more wickets in an innings 14 times and took 10 or more wickets. Once in a match.
Of course, Bedi hasn’t played much ODI cricket and his record in this format is not very impressive but one of the most boring bowling analyzes in the World Cup goes to this ‘Lord of Spin’. In the 1975 World Cup, Bedi took 6 wickets and one wicket in his 10 overs against East Africa. Keeping an 8 over maiden in a 12 over spell in ODIs was due to the power of a dominant spinner like Bedi.
It was within the power of a player like Bishan Singh Bedi to lodge a complaint against a team like England in the much-publicised Vaseline scandal of 1976-77. Fast bowler John Lever was included in the England team that toured India. During this Test series, he took to the field in Madras (now Chennai) wearing a liver headband. Lever troubled the Indian batsmen with his swing in the match. Amidst Lever’s success, Bedi sensationally alleged that Lever had put Vaseline on his headband, which helped him swing the ball more and take wickets. England were a major power in world cricket at the time, so Bedi’s allegations were not taken very seriously. However, later incidents of ball tampering in world cricket confirmed that the ball could be swung more for ‘artificial reasons’. Later in Indian cricket, there were many players of Bedi’s caliber and above, but there would be very few team men like him who would bravely stand up for the interests of his players.
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Tags: Bishan Singh Bedi, Indian Cricket Team, Team India
First published: October 23, 2023, 16:40 IST