Tiger Pataudi Would Have Been The Perfect Package At Present

Some people are born ahead of their times, some people areborn to keep the people of his time guessing with their charisma and awesomeindividuality. The dynamic Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi had been such a characterin the history of cricket.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was ahead of his time and teammates in terms of thought and skills. When he played in the Indian side theIndian team was a side who mostly depended on defensive mindset. But MAKPataudi decided not to hang on with such defensive mindset.

His batting had the sparkle of a modern day batsmanship. Ithad the care a dam attitude like Sehwag. For almost 25 years Indians, followingthe example set by Vijay Merchant, had never lifted the ball. In the Testseries against Ted Dexter’s Englandin 1961, Pataudi lifted the ball deliberately and successfully. He made a 103in just 2 hours and 35 minutes and Indiaeasily won their second successive Test victory and their first Test series winagainst England.Mind you, the Tiger was playing the Test series with one eye as his left eyehad been lost due to a car injury.

Tiger’s batting was unorthodox which at that point of timethe purist’s hated but it had an appeal to catch the attention of the criticsand it inspired a team which wasn’t used to exhibit the daring skills ofcricket. His batting pulled crowd. 

Again, as a fielder he was electric and fascinating and hehad the reflexes of an Azharuddin, Yuvraj or Mohamamd Kaif . Sub-continentalsides at that point of time never took fielding seriously and for which it wasnever given that much importance. But Tiger’s excellent fielding changed thingsand made his team realized that like batting and bowling fielding is equally importantin cricket and proves critical in determining victory and defeats.

But more than his charismatic batting and quicksilverfielding it had been his captaincy that has made him a part of Indian cricket’sfolklore. By international standards Pataudi’s long reign isn’t impressive butfor the Indians what stands out was the way he changed the game. To a nationthat since its Test debut thought that a draw was equivalent to a victory, hebrought the prospect of often unexpected victories. His captaincy had anelement of daring, at times unpredictable, so that even when Indiafailed, the impression was of having attempted the impossible. Ptatudi’s Indiawere infuriating but never boring. Under Pataudi Indiadeveloped the courage to dream and under him Indianever lost hope.

Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi had been a cricketer whocould have been an ornament of modern day cricket. His batting would have suitedeasily in a 50-over format or a T20 format, his majestic fielding would havebeen invaluable for Indiaand above all, his astonishingly daring, thoughtful and unconventionalcaptaincy would have made the current Indian team develop the aura ofinvincibility.

Overall, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was one of those rarebreeds like a Bradman, Sobers or the 3W’s who could fit in any generation, inany formation of the game.

MAK Pataudi is cricket’s charisma in true sense of terms. 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar