20 Facts you need to know about Bishan Singh Bedi: The classical Tweaker

20 Facts you need to know about Bishan Singh Bedi: The classical Tweaker: If ever there was a cricketer who fits into the classical mould it has to be Bishan Singh Bedi. He used his natural gifts of flight and guile to bamboozle the batsmen during a time period where bowling fast and intimidating bouncers was favored. A slow and measured run up, supple fingers and wrists and plenty of loop characterized his bowling. Such was the potency of Bedi and the rest of famous spin quartet that India would opt for just one pacer in their line-up in the 70s leaving part-timers like Gavaskar and Vengsarkar to take the shine off the new ball after which the spinners would demonstrate their trade.

On his 69th birthday, we give you 20 interesting facts about the spinner from Punjab. 20 Facts you need to know about Bishan Singh Bedi: The classical Tweaker:

1. The start of something big

After making his debut for Northern Punjab at the age of 15 Bishan Singh Bedi moved to Delhi in 1968–69 and in the 1974–75 season of the Ranji Trophy, he took a record 64 wickets.

2. The spin quartet

Bishan Singh Bedi was part of the famous Indian spin quartet of the 60’s and 70’s, which wrecked havoc round the world. The other members were – Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.

3. Career in numbers

Bishan Singh Bedi played 67 Tests and took 266 wickets a bowling average of 28.71 and best figures of 7/98.

4. The attributes

Bishan Singh Bedi was silent and deadly performer, a master of deception who conjured variations in flight, loop, spin and pace without any perceptible change in action.

5. Worthy praise

Former cricketer Jim Laker once stated that his idea of heaven would be to have Ray Lindwall and Bishan Singh Bedi bowling from opposite ends.

6. True

Bishan Singh Bedi holds the record for best economical figures in a 60-over World Cup match: 12 overs – 8 runs – 1 wicket at an eco. rate of 0.50.

7. The man of principles

As the captain of the Indian team, he once forfeited an ODI match between India and Pakistan due to the opposition pacers bowling bouncers excessively. The astonishing fact here, being that India needed 23 runs to win from 14 deliveries with 8 wickets remaining.

8. Captaincy Stint

Bishan Singh Bedi was appointed captain of India in 1976, succeeding Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. The high points of his captaincy career were India chasing 406 against West Indies in the fourth innings to win a memorable Test at Port of Spain and also winning the home series against New Zealand 2-0.

9. Replaced by Gavaskar

After successive Test series losses to England (3–1 at home), Australia (3–2 away) and Pakistan (2–0 away), he was replaced as captain by Sunil Gavaskar.

10. Truly remarkable

Bishan Singh Bedi is second to Lance Gibbs in terms of maiden overs per test, 16.35 against 16.62. He has bowled 4.2 maiden overs per wicket as against 4.24 by Gibbs.

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11. Best figures

His best match figures of 10/194 came against Australia at Perth in 78/79, a wicket considered to be the heaven for fast bowlers.

12. The Wisden Recognition

In 2008, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack named Bishan Singh Bedi as one of the five best cricketers to have not been selected as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

13. The first class numbers

Helped by a successful county stint with Northamptonshire, he finished with 1560 first-class wickets in 370 games, more than any other Indian bowler.

14. Controversies followed him

Bishan Singh Bedi was forthright and outspoken throughout his playing career, and inevitably courted controversies: one being objecting to the use of Vaseline by England bowler John Lever to polish the ball in 1976-77. Lever was however cleared of any wrong doing later.

15. The Coaching Stint

In 1990, Bishan Singh Bedi had a brief stint as coach of the Indian national team. He was the first person to be appointed to this job in a full-time capacity. Following one cricket tour where India had played poorly, he threatened to dump the entire team in the sea on the return journey.

16. The Turban

Bishan Singh Bedi was famously known for the colourful patka (turban) he wore during matches.

17. Not too impressed with current state of cricket

His outburst against various aspects of the modern game is well documented and he feels that the bodies running cricket administration world over are not doing enough to maintain the sanctity of the game.

18. “Murali is an outright chucker”

In particular, he was a vehement critic of the bowling action of Muttiah Muralitharan which he bluntly referred to as cheating and likened it to a javelin throw and shot putting, saying that Muralitharan would “complete 1000 Test wickets but they would count as mere run-outs in my eyes”.

19. Views on T20 cricket

More recently, Bedi has referred to T20 cricket as both “suffocating” and “the most vulgar expression of cricket”.

20. Outspoken

Bedi – ‘Tell us John, have you made this Australian team great, or have they made you?’ – referring to the erstwhile Australia coach John Buchanan who enjoyed a dream run with Australian side in late 90s and early 2000.