Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was a nawab on the field and off it

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was marked down as potentially one of the finest cricketers in the world while at Oxford before a car accident cost him his right eye. However, ‘Tiger’ continued to generate amazement with his batting as well as captaincy, writes David Frith.

The Nawab of Pataudi Junior, as cricket knows him, died on Thursday at the age of 70.  Otherwise known as Mansur Ali Khan, he was the son of a cricketer who played for England in the 1932-33 Bodyline series, again in 1934, and then led India on the 1946 tour of England, when the boy was five years old. That boy, fondly known as ‘Tiger’ to teammates and friends, revealed a special batting talent at Winchester College and Oxford University, and played for Sussex between 1957 and 1970, captaining the county in 1966.

Young Pataudi was marked down as potentially one of the finest cricketers in the world while at Oxford, but just before the Varsity match of 1961, he was involved in a car accident in which he lost his right eye. Astoundingly, having worked in the nets until he was satisfied that he could bat again at the highest level, he made his Test debut for India against England in Delhi later that same year, and generated amazement together with widespread admiration by scoring 103 at the Corporation Stadium, Madras, in his third Test.

Ten weeks later, ‘Tiger’ Pataudi found himself captaining India in the West Indies after Nari Contractor had suffered a serious head injury from a Charlie Griffith bouncer. The young man did his valiant best, but India were swept away 0-5. Then, in 1963-64, he led India against the visiting England side captained by MJK Smith, and failed in his first seven innings. People were shaking their heads and asking how a man with one eye could expect anything better.

Pataudi then came up with one of the most famous innings in Test history: 203 not out at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi, India’s first double-century in a Test against England.

Still only 23 next season, he took on Bob Simpson’s Australians, making 128 not out at Madras and 86 and 53 in the next Test, at the Brabourne Stadium. His third Test century came off New Zealand’s bowling at the Eden Gardens early in 1965, soon followed by another in Delhi. Two years on, he failed against the touring West Indies side, though he fell to spin rather than pace. Onlookers had, by now, become largely oblivious to his visual handicap.

As glorious as any of his Test innings was his 148 against England in the 1967 Headingley Test, which had people wondering how good he might have been with two eyes.  He scored freely from the bowling of John Snow, Ken Higgs, Robin Hobbs and Ray Illingworth.

Later that year, Pataudi led India in Australia and New Zealand, scoring steadily all the way, and stroking an 85 at Melbourne which persuaded Lindsay Hassett to compare him with Don Bradman. Pataudi battered fast bowler Graham McKenzie as if he were a mere medium-pacer.

Pataudi junior’s 46 Test matches brought him 2,793 runs at 34.91, with six centuries. All told, including his matches for Oxford, Sussex, Delhi and Hyderabad, he scored 15,425 runs in First Class cricket at an average of 33.67, with 33 centuries, the highest being that wondrous 203 in Delhi.

He had a debonair air about him and utilised a waspish sense of humour to keep his friends and acquaintances on their toes. His business involvements included editorship of Ananda Bazar’s Sportsworld magazine, and some modelling, and he resided in property in Pataudi and in the family palace in Bhopal.

He married the actress Sharmila Tagore, who bore him a son and two daughters. ‘Tiger’ Pataudi’s passing will be mourned not only across India but in England, where he made many friends.