asianaffairs

Last innings for legend who played a straight bat

Tiger Pataudi, regarded as one of India's finest ever cricket captains, has died at the age of 70. Shyam Bhatia recalls his long friendship with Pataudi, and the great man's abiding passion for his sport.

By Shyam Bhatia

BOWLED OVER: Shyam Bhatia's first meeting with the glamorous Pataudi left an 'indelible impression'

Meeting Tiger Pataudi for the first time in 1966 left an indelible impression on me as a 16-year-old preparing for my A-Level examinations. We were both staying at my parents' home in Nairobi. He was the very glamorous captain of the Indian cricket team and I was a shy, rather gauche schoolboy.

My father, Prem Bhatia, then India's High Commissioner to Kenya, had been a great friend of Pataudi's late father, playing cricket with him in Chail, and had personally helped organise the Indian test team's first ever, albeit unofficial, visit to Kenya.

On that momentous occasion, Father cobbled together a local High Commissioner's Eleven to challenge the visiting Indian team. But, unbeknown to any of us, Pataudi had instructed his fellow players that when my father came in to bat, he was under no circumstances to be caught or bowled out. The umpires were also part of the plot.

When it dawned on the crowd that the High Commissioner was receiving 'special treatment', there were waves of laughter from everybody and a lovely afternoon was had by all.

On a subsequent visit, Tiger's wife-to-be, Sharmila Tagore, was also in Nairobi, where both enjoyed the hospitality of the Indian diplomatic mission.

Tiger, born Mansour Ali Khan Pataudi, was the ninth and last Nawab of Pataudi until 1971, when the Indian constitution was amended to do away with all princely and other feudal privileges. His father, Ifhtikhar Ali Khan, was also a distinguished cricketer who had the unique distinction of playing for both India and England.

Tiger followed his father to Balliol College, Oxford, and subsequently played for both Oxford and Sussex before returning home to India. Despite losing an eye in a car accident while still at Oxford, he went on to play in 46 tests. He is regarded as one of India's greatest ever captains. Under his leadership India won its first ever overseas Test victory against New Zealand in 1967.

He was only 21 years old in 1962 when the Indian side was playing in Barbados and Nari Contractor was hospitalized after being hit on the head. Tiger took charge, becoming the youngest ever test captain, a record that was maintained until 2004.

He went on to play in many more tests, although his 75 against Australia in Melbourne in 1967-68 is regarded as his finest performance. His personal record of 2793 runs in 46 tests included six centuries — the most impressive was an unbeaten 203 against England in Delhi in 1964.

After retiring in 1975, Tiger served for a few years as a match referee. He also commanded attention as a television commentator and one time editor of the cricket magazine Sportsworld. Until October 2010 he was also part of the first IPL governing council.

Our paths would cross for some 40 plus years in both Delhi and London. He was an avid bridge player, a raconteur par excellence and remained a great family friend. Two years ago he agreed to an exclusive interview when he talked with passion about the new twists and turns of India's cricket. I remember asking him whether there was too much cricket being played around the world.

He responded, 'I think today you will find it's like a job, a 9-5 job that most people do throughout the year. There's no such thing as being an amateur cricketer, everyone's a professional now. So there can't be too much cricket. You can play 365 days and the time will come no doubt when you will have covered stadiums and you will be playing most of the cricket in the evenings. I wouldn't be surprised. How much it affects the more regular conservative cricket — I don't think it does.'

Commenting on the future of test cricket, he added, 'I think what's happening, at least in India, is that test cricket itself is losing its popularity. Test cricket has not lost its popularity in England, South Africa, Australia, but in India it has, and in the subcontinent it seems to have, except to some extent Sri Lanka. And even if you have a Pakistan-India match, in the old days the stadium would be jam-packed. Today you can get in very easily, maybe half the stadium is full.

'And there's no revenue from the first class cricket, domestic cricket, the Ranji Trophy, Dalip Tophy and so on and several other trophies. So the revenue has to come from either the ODIs, the one day 50 overs, or the T20s. And the T20s as far as the IPL is concerned — the Indian Premier League based on the English Premier Football League — is only for a short period of 44 days in the year when you buy your players and the time will come when you will be able to buy each other's players, like the transfers you have in England. It's basically based on the (English) Premier League.'

Tiger also talked about the vast sums of money being generated in India by the new style of cricket competitions, explaining, 'A lot of money is involved which will go to support the Dalip Trophy and Ranji Trophy from where our test cricketers are introduced. Some of the money will be redistributed, it will go into infrastructure, it will go into schools cricket, it will go into junior cricket and it will be very beneficial. We all accept that test cricket is the ultimate contest between two sides but nobody is going to watch the Ranji Trophy and nobody is going to watch the Dalip Trophy and nobody is going to be interested. But at least the players are going to get more money.'
It is hard to believe that only a couple of months ago I spent a delightful and entertaining evening in the company of Tiger and Sharmila at the home of a mutual friend. Tiger, recently turned 70, was on form, at once charming and entertaining.

Barely a week later he was admitted to hospital with a lung infection. Doctors treating him said he was suffering from interstitial lung disease and could not maintain his oxygen levels. He spent a month in the intensive care unit of a leading Delhi hospital where, despite the best effors of specialist medical staff, he passed away towards the end of September.

Cherished by his friends and much loved by his wife and three children, Saif, Soha and Saba, the world and India are all the poorer for his passing.

Kabul embassy attack: not substantial but symbolic

Just after 1pm Kabul time on 13 September 2011, a group of militants opened fire on the US Embassy using rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and light arms. But how was the attack planned and carried out?

From the reports gathered so far, it would appear that the militants had occupied a building that was under construction in the heart of the Green Zone in Kabul near the US Embassy and several other sensitive buildings. The attackers were armed with light arms, machine guns, AK-47s and RPGs. It would appear from initial reports that the Taliban was able to smuggle the weapons into the construction site, perhaps hidden among construction-type materials that were being brought into that site.

Using these types of light weapons against hardened targets such as a US Embassy is hardly going to create much of an effect. These buildings are designed to withstand considerable attacks by even vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, so a weapon like an RPG or an assault rifle is not going to cause much damage. The only way that this sort of a force armed this way could have caused any damage would have been by the use of suicide bombers, who tried to get through the access entry points into the embassy. But apparently the security at those sites worked; the attackers were unable to get into the secure facilities and ended up being pinned down in that building under construction.

The Taliban planners, when they were putting together this attack, would have realised that weapons such as RPGs and assault rifles were not going to cause much real damage to the US Embassy. For that reason, it seems that this attack was intended to send a message, to be symbolic in nature rather than to be a real, substantial attack against the US Embassy.

For the Taliban this is a sensitive time. They are trying to show that they are a force to be reckoned with and that if the US wants to find any sort of settlement or negotiated peace in Afghanistan, the Taliban have to be brought into those negotiations and they have to be dealt with. An attack like this allows them to send a clear message to Ambassador Crocker: if you are going to try to accomplish anything in Afghanistan, you need to account for us.

top