Ex-cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi is highly regarded as one of the best Indian spinners of all time. His main skill was bowling with a relaxed action and a little extra flighted variation to throw off the batters with his off-break and turn from the wicket. He played with Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar as part of the legendary Indian spin quartet of the 1960s and 1970s. The controversial cricketer’s breakthrough came in the 1969–70 Australia Test series, when he took 21 wickets overall and had his best test figures of 7/98 at Kolkata.
Bedi succeeded Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi as captain of the Indian team in 1976. To beat the formidable West Indies at Port of Spain, his team had to chase a then-record 406 runs in the fourth inning, but under his direction, they pulled off a miraculous comeback and won by an innings and a half.
Biography of Bishan Singh Bedi:
- Real name: Bishan Singh Bedi
- Other/Nickname: Bishu
- Profession: former Indian cricketer
- Famous for: Bowler
- Best Performance: India vs. Australia, 1969–70: 21 wickets at an average of 20.57
Physical Status:
- Height: 5’6″
- Weight: N/A
- Body Measurements: N/A
- Eye Colour: N/A
- Hair Colour: N/A
Personal Life:
- Date Of Birth: 25 September 1946
- Place Of Birth: Amritsar, Punjab, British India
- Nationality: Indian
- Hometown: Amritsar, Punjab
- School: Saint Francis School, Amritsar
- College: Hindu College, Amritsar
- Highest Education Qualification: Graduate
Family Statistics:
- Marital Status: Married
- Wife: first wife: Glenith, second wife: Anju Inderjit Bedi
- Children: Son- Angad Bedi, Gavas Inder Bedi, Daughter-Neha Bedi, Neha Bedi
- Parents: Father- Gyan Singh Bedi (President of District Congress Committee).
- Siblings: 13 siblings
- Religion: N/A
- Other Hobbies: Reading and Cooking
Career Statistics:
- Test Debut: On 31 Dec 1966 against West Indies at Eden Gardens in Calcutta (now Kolkata)
- ODI Debut: On July 13, 1974, against England at the Yorkshire Cricket Ground in Leeds, England
Achievements:
- One of the best Indian cricketers of 1967
- Recognized with the Arjuna Award from the Government of India in 1969.
- the 1970 award winner of India’s Padma Shri honour award
- 2004 awardee of the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award
- In 2015, he was given a spot in the Wisden India Hall of Fame.
Here are some lesser-known facts about Bishan Singh Bedi:
- Bishan Singh Bedi was born during India’s non-violent battle against the British. He played marble on Amritsar’s streets as a kid. When he heard a cricket match between India and the West Indies on the radio, he started playing. He played to slim down. In 1968-69, he came to Delhi, where he recorded a record 64 wickets in the 1974-75 Ranji season.
- In the television series, Bedi talks about an unofficial test that took place in 1975 in Nagpur between India and Sri Lanka.
- His best score was fifty runs, and it came against New Zealand in Kanpur in 1976. It was his only 50 in international competition.
- Bedi is an extremely generous man. In response to a call for donations that he saw in the media, he gave blood in Karachi while Cavalier was on tour. After being moved by his kindness, Benazir Bhutto, who was serving as Prime Minister of Pakistan at the time, presented him with two carpets and a tea set.
- Twenty20 cricket was always one of his least favourite forms of the game, and he frequently referred to it as “suffocating” and “the most vulgar expression of cricket.”
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