The Spin Maestro
By
Suresh Menon
Bishan Singh Bedi
Former Captain and Spin Bowler, Indian Cricket Team
Bishan Singh Bedi Former Captain and Spin Bowler, Indian Cricket Team
But Bedi was more than a bowler; he was a bulwark against authority gone mad, a touchstone for what ‘cricket’ stood for in all its meanings.
On two occasions Bedi was the barricade against Kerry Packer and his World Series, which threatened to split world cricket. When he led the Indian team to Australia in 1977–8, the hosts were a depleted side, having lost their big names to Packer. It was thanks to Bedi’s combativeness and the success of that tour, both on and off the field (all five Tests produced results), that establishment cricket was given a resounding vote of approval in the minds and hearts of fans.
‘I felt great admiration for the Indian team throughout the Test matches, and there is no doubt that the example of Bedi’s sportsmanship permeated the whole atmosphere of the Tests,’ wrote Donald Bradman in Bedi’s Benefit Souvenir, the legendary Australian cricketer who was a great admirer.
The next season, when Packer’s representative was on the verge of signing on half-a-dozen Indian players during their tour of Pakistan, it was Bedi’s refusal to do so that carried the day. He was the Indian captain and, had he agreed, India would have lost the cream of their players. ‘I refuse to let Packer use my shoulder to fire his gun from,’ said Bedi. For a man who was temperamentally anti-establishment, Bedi strove to protect the traditional game. He saw it as his duty to preserve all that was good and inspiring about cricket, add to it in his time and then hand it over to the next generation cleaner, and shinier, if possible.
Bedi can be crude and exasperating, or calm and inspiring, but the impulses spring from the same source: the need to react as quickly and as honestly as possible to any situation. All his deception he kept for his bowling; outside the cricket field, he is neither deceptive nor tricky. He wears his heart on his sleeve—it was rolled down when he bowled, making it difficult for the batsman to predict his intentions. When he is not bowling, a child can read him.
He will drive his four-wheeler a hundred kilometers daily to pick up a schoolboy cricketer from his house, bring him to his camp, and then drop him off after the session. He has distributed equipment free of cost, and he has raised money to keep his coaching school afloat so as to reduce the burden on the players. He takes a team of young players to England on a regular basis. On one occasion, when I visited him in his farmhouse near Delhi, he introduced me to an off-spinner from Bihar who was a house-guest because the youngster could not afford accommodation anywhere. Former players have reduced the phrase ‘giving back to the game’ to a cliché. Bedi has rescued the cliché and restored its original import.
Bedi was the first modern Indian captain who was an all-rounder: a leader both on and off the field, approachable, communicative and a guru to the youngsters in the side. Prasanna thought he was ‘result-oriented’. Madan Lal thought he was Delhi cricket, not just ensuring that the cricketing balance of power shifted northwards in India, but also acting as a mentor to the players.
‘He taught us how to eat in stylish restaurants, which fork went with which meat, what to drink with fish dishes and how to be gentlemen,’ one of the players once told me. As a natural mentor, it was a role Bedi relished.
Bedi was an artist and will not be remembered for his wickets alone. He was a throwback to the Golden Age, a reminder of the essentially romantic nature of cricket. Above all, he was the embodiment of the cliché: It is not about whether you win or lose but how you play the game.
He was a players’ captain, conscious of their needs off the field and willing to back them against authority. Vijay Merchant, India’s iconic opening batsman put it in perspective when he said, ‘If today our cricketers are handsomely paid, they owe an everlasting debt of gratitude to Bishan Bedi, sportsman, cricketer, captain, administrator and supreme fighter in the cause of cricket and cricketers.’
Bedi picked up a cricket ball rather later than most boys, inspired by the radio commentary when leg-spinner Subhash Gupte was claiming nine wickets in an innings against the West Indies in 1958-9. That team had Sobers in it, and Bedi was among the spectators when the visitors took on North Zone at Amritsar.
Three years later, Bedi traveled to Jalandhar to watch the MCC versus North Zone match. There it was Tony Lock who grabbed his attention, with his long run-up and faster deliveries. ‘I tried to copy Lock’s action but Gurpal stopped me from continuing with it,’ said Bedi.
