The Sardar who changed the face of left arm bowling

Which country is as blessed as India when it comes to producing top class spin bowlers? Cricket has seen very few left arm spin bowlers excelling for a long period of time in the international arena. Vinoo Mankad was one of India’s best left arm spin bowlers, especially in partnership with Subhash Gupte and even Baloo Gupte. A young sardar then broke into the national side and never really looked back.

With a smooth silky bowling action and a grimace on the face after outwitting the batsman; these may sound the thing of the past but India’s best left arm spinner derived pleasure over these simple things like beating the batsman in flight. Bishen Singh Bedi was one of the top spin bowlers and easily the best left arm spinner of his era in terms of the variations and the number of wickets. Bedi picked up 1560 first class wickets – which is still an Indian record.

Bedi played a lot of county cricket for Northamptonshire. A big heart was his forte. In today’s day and age most of the spinners adopt a flatter trajectory to contain runs. Bedi was special because he always attacked the batsman even if he was taken to the cleaners.

Bedi has had his share of controversies as the captain of the Indian Cricket team. Bedi declared the innings against West Indies in 1976, when they played a four-pronged pace attack. Two Indian players were forced to retire hurt and five of them did not bat in the second innings. In 1977, Bedi criticized England fast bowler John Lever of illegally using Vaseline to polish the ball. In 1978, Bedi handed over the One Day International (ODI) match to Pakistan after a Pakistani umpire allowed Sarfaraz Nawaz to bowl four successive bouncers. None of the deliveries was declared as a wide ball.

Bedi has always believed in giving his invaluable bowling tips time and again to the international spinners. Iqbal Qasim, a left arm spinner was picked for the Bangalore Test match ahead of Abdul Qadir – who was Pakistan’s top leg spinner of that time. Qasim was a left arm spinner and prodigiously turned the ball. India were set a modest target of 221 runs in the fourth innings. Qasim, who starred in the Pakistan victory, gave Bedi the credit for his exploits with the ball. Bedi gave Qasim a simple advice before the final day. He asked Qasim to use his straighter ball as the wicket-taking delivery and not the turning ball. That worked wonders for Qasim. Pakistan won the game by 16 runs. In 1999, Vettori was given bowling tips by Bedi, and got the prized scalp of Tendulkar. Bedi later said that it felt as if he himself had dismissed Tendulkar.

In 1990, he was the coach of the Indian national team. He was the first person to be appointed to this job in a full-time capacity. India had played poorly in one particular tour and he threatened to dump the entire team in the sea on the return journey. Bedi has always expressed his views without ever being diplomatic. He vehemently called Muttiah Muralitharan “A Chucker”. He said chucking was much more dangerous than bribing or betting. Muralitharan threatened to sue him but that did not deter Bedi from giving his views.

Bedi has criticized the modern cricket bats, the T20 format and smaller grounds for the decline of classical spin bowling in the country. A generous man who has an infinite knowledge, his enthusiasm and passion for the game still remains the same as it was during his playing days, although his occasional outburst against various facets of the modern game sometimes makes him a villain. But he does not care.

Recently Bedi spoke that was happy to see another young left-arm spinner, a Sardar, bowling just like he did (the action that is). Harmeet Singh, the Mumbai left arm spinner played a pivotal role in India’s U19 World Cup campaign. Bedi was impressed with Singh’s attitude as a spin bowler and called for his inclusion in the first class side. Bedi said that the more Harmeet bowled at the first class level, the better it would be for him and Indian Cricket.

Bedi turns 66 today. Let us hope that he lives long and helps the spin bowlers in honing their skills. The very sight of a spin bowler beating the batsman in the air still excites him. Let us hope Bedi keeps giving his views on the game. After all, Bedi is the right person to talk about the game he made more beautiful.

Bedi’s achievements: