Bishan Singh Bedi: Legendary spinner, tough taskmaster & heart of gold

Kirti Azad

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Bedi Paaji was a class apart — God does not create men like him anymore. The man had a heart of gold. Exploits in cricket aside, Paaji was an avid reader and he conversed in impeccable English, which not many of us would perhaps easily understand. A multi-faceted figure, his loss is irreparable. He will forever stay in our hearts, be it for his acumen as a spin bowler or his contribution to cricket off the field.

What he did for our cricket, for the cricketers from the North, is phenomenal. Be it Chetan Chauhan, Surinder Amarnath, Mohinder Amarnath, Surender Khanna, all would vouch for the fact that he made us realise the need to beat Mumbai, the serial Ranji Trophy winners, if we had any ambition of playing for the country.

He turned us into a fighting unit. Kapil Dev and Yashpal Sharma, the only ones in the North Zone team who were not from Delhi, also owed him big. In fact, Bedi Paaji captained Kapil in his first tour of Pakistan in 1978. He was a hard taskmaster, but also loved you more than your parents did and was magnanimous. I remember I had scored a century in the 1979-80 Ranji Trophy finals against Mumbai, where I went from 82 to a 100 with three sixes and we won it on account of the first innings lead. I walked into the dressing room and Bedi Paaji opened his kitbag, asking me to take my pick. I chose a Gray-Nicolls bat and a pair of Patrick shoes. Those were prized possessions back in the day. We used to have Firefly shoes that would get worn out very soon and there was this man, who was happy to help us out.

He would spend on us from own pocket and personally visit injured players to check on them. He led from the front and fought for us. He would take on the authorities if we were put up in rat-infested rooms and would object to the team getting pakoras after practice, for he wanted us to have boiled eggs, and fruits for vegetarian players.

And then he had no qualms in telling us off if we performed poorly. Be it Mohinder Amarnath or anyone else, it never mattered to him. If you had done well on the field, his go-to phrase was “have a glassy” (beer).

My first interaction with him happened when we had just returned to Delhi from the Vizzy Trophy, where I led the team in 1978-79. As we arrived by train, I heard someone call out my name, saying: “Bedi Paaji wants to see him.” I was in my shorts, but had kept a blazer and leather shoes in my bag.

I dressed to the tee and went straight to the dressing room, where I saw Madan Lal in shorts with a towel on his shoulder. Paaji, who too was in a towel, saw me and said: “Kirat come here, have a glassy”. “Get ready, you will play Ranji Trophy this year,” he added, while asking me to choose a gear from his bag. I chose a bat, but he picked up another and said: “No take this one, it’s Grade A!”

The Feroz Shah Kotla, now Arun Jaitley Stadium, should have been named after Bishan Singh Bedi. It would have been befitting to the legendary spinner.

(As told by former cricketer to Vinayak Padmadeo)