BISAN SINGH BEDI

Bishan Singh Bedi

Bishan Singh Bedi was born on 25 September 1946 in Amritsar, is an Indian ex- cricketer who was first and foremost a slow left-arm mainstream bowler.

He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and shaped part of the famous Indian spin quartet.

He also leaded the national side in 22 Test matches. Bedi is also legendary for always wearing a colorful patka and his candid and plainspoken views on cricketing stuffs.

Playing career

In Indian domestic cricket, Bedi initially played for Northern Punjab when only fifteen, having charming up cricket only two years before, a particularly late era for this sport. He stirred to Delhi in 1968-69 and in the 1974-75 season of the Ranji Trophy, he took a record 64 wickets. Bedi also characterized Northamptonshire in English county cricket for many days. He completed his career with 1560 wickets in first-class cricket � further than any other Indian.

His bowling has been depicted as elegant, even beautiful, and full of deviousness and creativity. He was at connoisseur in flighting the ball, and was skilled of making it hold it reverse or dash ahead and added slight variations of spin. His action was so peaceful and synchronized that he was gifted to bowl all day with pace and control, a huge asset to any skipper.
He had quite a few very successful Test series
• India vs Australia 1969-70: 21 wickets at 20.57

• India vs England 1972-73: 25 wickets at 25.28

• India in the West Indies: 18 wickets at 25.33

• India vs New Zealand 1976-77: 22 wickets at 13.18

• India vs England 1976-77: 25 wickets at 22.96

• India in Australia 1977-78: 31 wickets at 23.87

His finest Test bowling was 7/98 in opposition to Australia at Calcutta in 1969-70, and his best game figures 10/194 at Perth in 1978-79, also in opposition to Australia. His greatest first class bowling was 7/5 for Delhi vs Jammu and Kashmir at New Delhi 1974-75. Even though his batting was meager he hit a boundary off the second final ball in the Gillette Cup Semi Final for Northamptonshire vs Hampshire, winning the game by two wickets. His chief score of 50 not out, his only half century at Test level, was attained in opposition to New Zealand in Kanpur in 1976.

Bedi was selected skipper of India in 1976 following Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. His first assessment victory as skipper was in opposition to the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in the 3rd Test of the 1976 sequence in which India scored a then-record 406 in the fourth innings. This was chased up by a 2-0 series triumph over New Zealand at home. However, after succeeding Test series losses to England (3-1 at home), Australia (3-2 away) and Pakistan (2-0 away), he was restored as skipper by Sunil Gavaskar.

Batting Performance

Bedi didn't have a fine batting record still. He played 67 Test Matches in which he gained 656 runs with a Batting standard of 8.98 runs. Whereas in One Day International (ODI) Cricket, he played 10 matches and scored 31 runs with a Batting standard of 6.20 runs. Likewise, in First Class Cricket, he played 370 matches and scored 3584 runs with a Batting standard of 11.37 runs. The top score made by him as a batsman in Test Cricket was 50 Not Out, while the same in One Day International (ODI) Cricket was 13 runs.

In 2008, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack named Bedi as one of the five greatest cricketers to have not been preferred as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

He said that he has always swabbed his own clothes, calling it "the best train for your shoulders and fingers", when pointing out that twist bowling involves litheness of limbs.

Vital Statistics

Bishan Singh Bedi played 67 Test Cricket contests in his career, in which he captured 266 wickets and gave 7637 runs in 118 innings, with a Bowling standard of 28.71 runs. As much as One Day International (ODI) Cricket is alarmed, he played 10 matches and took 7 wickets at 340 runs with a Bowling standard of 48.57 runs. As a batsman, out of the 67 Test Cricket games he scored 656 total runs with the maximum being 50 not out, with a Batting standard of 8.98 runs. In the One Day International (ODI) Cricket games, out of the 10 matches he played, he could just attain a total of 31 runs with the highest score being 13 runs, with a Batting standard of 6.30 runs.

Controversy

As captain of India, Bedi's traits inevitably led to some arguments. Subsequent India's record-breaking run-chase in the 3rd Test of the 1976 sequence in opposition to the West Indies, the West Indies picked for an destructive four-man fast bowler harass for the 4th Test. Bedi objected to their strategies, which he considered as intimidatory, and affirmed the Indian first innings stopped early after two players were forced to give up work hurt. Consequently, five players were not present hurt in the second innings of the game.

Vaseline incident

In England's visit to India in 1976-77 he indicted John Lever of using Vaseline to illegitimately polish the ball in the Third Test at Madras. Lever wore Vaseline terrazzo on his forehead to keep the sweat out of his eyes, but was then cleared of any offense.

In November 1978, he became the first leader to forfeit an international cricket game. In a One Day International in opposition to Pakistan at Sahiwal, India, with 8 wickets in hand, only essential 23 run from 14 balls. Bedi, though, recalled the batsmen from the groove and conceded the game in protest at the bowling of Sarfaraz Nawaz who had bowled 4 bouncers in succession with not one being called wide by the umpire.

Coaching

In 1990, he had a succinct turn as coach of the Indian national squad. He was the first personality to be appointed to this job in a permanent capacity. Subsequent one cricket tour where India had played feebly, he famously exposed to abandon the entire squad into the Pacific Ocean on the come back journey.

Opinions on Modern Day Cricket

Bedi has articulated strong opinions on many characteristics of modern day cricket and has been illustrated as "rarely scared to speak his intellect In meticulous, he is a intense censor of the bowling action of Muttiah Muralitharan ("if Murali doesn't pitch, then show me how to bowl") which he frankly refers to as devious and likens to a lance throw and more in recent times, shot putting, saying that Muralitharan "will absolute 1000 Test wickets but they would calculate as mere run-outs in my eyes". He takes a very soft view of pitch, which he calls "a bigger peril than bribing and gambling" and claimed in 2004 that many bowlers on the subcontinent chuck, calling Muralitharan a "Sri Lankan outlaw closing in on a delusion artist called Shane Warne". He has confirmed, though, that he has nothing personal in opposition to Muralitharan, even though Muralitharan has susceptible to litigate him.

In recent times he has reverberated the same condemnations in opposition to his countryman, Harbhajan Singh .Concerning imagines actions in cricket, he said "When a bowler is chucking, he's referred to teams and the home cricket board. Why not do the identical for a wide or no-ball, then?�He has indicted one-day cricket, present cricket bats and small grounds of causing a refuse in traditional twist bowling in India.

Business interests

He has also molested Sunil Gavaskar, calling him "a vicious influence". He said to Australian coach John Buchanan "Tell us, John, have you made this Australian squad immense, or have they made you?"

More freshly, Bedi has referred to T20 cricket as "the most improper appearance of cricket".

Personal life

His son, Angad Bedi played cricket up to Under-19 level for Delhi before taking up a career in modelling and acting.