Bishan Singh Bedi: World Mourns Passing Away of a Most Colourful Cricketer

Spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi, who passed away on October 23 aged 77, was a misunderstood man. A man of principles, Bedi fought several cricketing battles off the field besides deceiving batsmen with his flight and guile on the pitch. He never hesitated to speak his mind on contentious issues concerning the sport, like chucking and match-fixing.

The reality was that Bedi had a large heart, was compassionate and went out of his way to help other cricketers. For example, he didn’t charge those who came from afar to train at his cricket school in Delhi and couldn’t afford to pay the fee. Some people who benefitted from his assistance might admit the help he extended to them, but others may not. Bedi himself didn’t want the world to know – he helped them because of the goodness of his heart, not for recognition.

“For instance, when Uttar Pradesh’s left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar couldn’t pay the fee at Bedi Paaji’s coaching centre, he didn’t charge him,” former test batsman Gursharan Singh, who captained the Bedi-coached Punjab team to their epochal Ranji Trophy triumph in 1992-93, told The Wire.

When a prominent former India Test batsman, who was close to Bedi, passed away many years ago, he collected money to help the cricketer’s family.

Gursharan was also part of the Indian teams that toured New Zealand and the West Indies in early 1989-90, when Bedi was coach. Although Bedi’s stint didn’t last long, one high point of his tenure was that Sachin Tendulkar scored his maiden Test century under his watch, in 1990 in England.

On Monday, Tendulkar paid a touching tribute to Bedi on X (formerly Twitter): “Sashu, he’d say with warmth that only he possessed. To Bishan Paaji, I wasn’t just another cricketer; I was like a son. Under his nurturing guidance, I scored my first 100 in England. On chilly NZ evenings, we’d sit over meals, and I’d hang on to every story he told, every piece of wisdom he shared. Today, there’s an echoing silence where his voice used to be. The world seems a little emptier without you, Paaji.”

Also Read | Player Power Over Personal Success: Bishan Singh Bedi’s True Impact on Indian Cricket

The world is poorer without the colourful Bedi. Not just Indians, but his contemporaries like former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam and West Indies fast bowling legend Michael Holding paid rich tributes to the genial Sikh.

“He was a magician with the ball but besides that, he was a great human being. I have never seen anyone as genuine as Bishan. There was no fakeness in him. He was the same inside out. I used to get worried because of his personality. Whenever I used to warn him, ‘Bishan, sometimes it is okay to be diplomatic.’ In his younger days, he would reply, ‘I will try.’ After his retirement, he would say, ‘ab toh aadat daal lo (At least get used to it now)’,” wrote Alam in a first-person account in the Indian Express.

“It is indeed a sad day for world cricket. We have lost a gem. Our friendship will continue till the time I am alive. He loved me like his elder brother. I loved him like my younger brother. I may never sing Louis Armstrong’s songs. Maybe, once we meet in another life.”

Holding, too, poured genuine praise on Bedi. “Bishan was the greatest moral voice of Indian cricket. Bish liked to be morally right; not popularly right. He was never afraid of giving opinions; it was his opinion and he said it the way he saw it. I like that about people and like to think I am similar to him in that vein. He never looked to get something out of the game by any means. A man of morals who didn’t care if his views weren’t popular,” he wrote in the Indian Express.

“He is one of the great romantics of the game; he genuinely loved the sport and was wary about the negative tentacles spreading around it. He was morally against all things that were bad. That’s the way you need to be. You don’t need to be afraid to speak out. He never was. The secret to that confidence is he knew he was speaking the truth to the power. Truth is something to never be afraid of.”

Mukul Mudgal, a former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court and a cricket follower, also has fond memories of watching Bedi display his art.

“My most abiding memory of Bedi is Australian Doug Walters (the best batsman of his time) facing him in the Delhi Test against Bill Lawrry-led Australia. Walters shouldered arms, anticipating turn, but the ball came in with the arm and bowled him. A thoroughly bewildered Walters walked back shaking his head in disbelief. Subtle in his flight and turn, Bedi was equally forthright in his criticism of the cricket establishment and in particular the Delhi and District Cricket Association,” he said.

Yashovardhan Azad, a former top cop who accompanied the Indian team as security liaison on India’s historic tour of Pakistan in 2004, said the Feroze Shah Kotla grounds in Delhi, home to Bedi for years, should be named after him. “If there is one after whom the Kotla stadium shd be named it is Bishan Bedi. True leader, spin wizard led Delhi & country to glory. Till end crusader against the corrupt in Delhi & India cricket. Will always miss you,” he tweeted.

Bedi was never the same after he underwent successive operations, including an open heart surgery, in February 2021. He became quiet and was confined largely to the wheelchair.

Amritsar to Delhi

Bedi, born in Amritsar, represented the erstwhile Northern Punjab in the Ranji Trophy national championship from 1961-62 to 1966-67, before switching to Delhi (1968-69 to 1980-81). So, Bedi bagged many of his 1,560 first-class wickets for Delhi. He settled in Delhi for good and purchased a sprawling farmhouse on the outskirts of the national capital, where he also had pet dogs and peacocks for company.

Bedi went on to lead Delhi and guided the team to its first-ever Ranji Trophy final in 1976-77. But Delhi on their home ground lost to the Sunil Gavaskar-led Bombay. After a year, Bedi captained Delhi to their first title, in 1978-79, and repeated the feat the next season. Delhi entered their third straight final in 1980-81, but this time Eknath Solkar’s Bombay, playing on their home ground, defeated Delhi. This turned out to be Bedi’s last Ranji Trophy and first-class match.

Bedi had transformed Delhi into a force to be reckoned with. In all, Delhi entered the Ranji Trophy 12 times in 16 seasons (from 1976-77 to 1991-92) and won the crown six times, under his guidance and after his departure. To date, this is Delhi’s best period in the national championship.

Also Read: Bishan Singh Bedi Bowled to Deceive but, Frank and Big-Hearted, Was the Least Deceptive of Men

Transforming Punjab

A few years after he stopped playing competitive cricket, Bedi joined the Punjab team as coach in the mid-1980s. He transformed the team completely – much like he had Delhi as captain – and guided them to their first-ever Ranji Trophy title in a dream campaign in 1992-93. Gursharan Singh, the batsman who had impressed Bedi as a teenager, was captain. It was at Bedi’s request that he switched sides from Delhi to Punjab.

Gursharan gives a lot of credit to Bedi’s insistence on physical fitness. “He was always a hard taskmaster. Before the 1992-93 season started, Paaji organised a month-long preparatory camp at the Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education in Gwalior. We slogged it out for seven-eight hours daily, doing physical fitness in the mornings and working on our skills in the afternoons. This camp helped us a lot,” he says.

And during the tournament, Bedi made bold decisions that surprised some people. He gave batsman Amit Sharma the big break in the crucial away semi-final match against Madhya Pradesh in Indore and Pankaj Dharmani the Ranji debut in the final against Maharashtra in Ludhiana. Sharma scored a fine century in the final that helped Punjab win the title. “Paaji would tell us that ‘no match is lost until the last ball is bowled’ and that ‘you need 20 wickets to win a match’,” recalls the 60-year-old Gursharan.

“My best memory of my association with paaji is that when I scored 298 not out against Bengal in the 1988/89 Ranji Trophy quarter-final, paaji gave me shoulder and leg massage during lunch time. It was a touching gesture. He would treat all players equally,” he said, recalling his knock at Eden Gardens, Calcutta.

Punjab made it to the Ranji Trophy finals twice more (1994-95 and 2004-05) but lost on both occasions – to Sachin Tendulkar’s Bombay and Sanjay Bangar’s Railways respectively. In the 2004-05 final, Dharmani, given the break by Bedi, was captain. Later, Bedi also took up roles with Delhi and the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.

Bedi’s 266 Test wickets remained an Indian record until fast bowler Kapil Dev broke it in 1985-86. However, his tally still remained the best by a left-arm Indian spinner until Ravindra Jadeja surpassed it in the World Test Championship final against Australia this year.

Qaiser Mohammad Ali has covered cricket for over three decades and is based in New Delhi. He tweets at @AlwaysCricket.