Today i.e. 5th January is the 84th birthday of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, one of the greatest cricketers of India. Pataudi, popularly known as Tiger, had inherited his passion for cricket from his father. Growing up watching his father play cricket, Tiger had a profound influence on Indian cricket. It is said that he brought Team India out of the darkness of defeat and taught them to win. But this journey was not so easy for him. Let us know how he left his mark in Indian cricket despite losing an eye in a car accident.
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi's father Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi made his debut for England. Later he started playing for India. Following his father's footsteps, he started playing cricket from a very young age. At the age of just 16, he made his first class debut for England's county team Sussex in 1957. For the next 4 years, after toiling in domestic matches, he was slowly moving towards his international debut. Then in 1961, he became the victim of a fatal car accident in England.
The windscreen entered his eyes. He suffered painful injuries and it was difficult for him to see. However, the doctor somehow managed to save one of his eyes. But he completely lost the vision in his left eye. After losing the sight of one eye at the age of just 20, it seemed that his cricketing career would be over. But Tiger Pataudi was made of different material. He did not give up and started practicing with one eye. He became adept at playing with just one eye and within 6 months, made his Test debut for Team India in 1961 against England in Delhi.
During the home Test series against England, 20 year old Pataudi scored a century in his third Test. In the Madras Test, he played an inning of 103 runs, on the basis of which India won and defeated the England team for the first time in the Test series. After this, in the next year i.e. 1962, Team India left for the West Indies tour, for which he was made the vice-captain. The command of the team was in the hands of a woman contractor. Due to injury, he was ruled out of the fourth test and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi got the chance of captaincy.
By taking command of the team at the age of just 21 years and 77 days, he set a record of becoming the youngest Test captain in cricket. Later, Zimbabwe's Tatenda Taibu made this record by becoming the captain at the age of just 19. After this, Rashid Khan achieved this feat at the age of 20 years 350 days. At present, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi holds the record of being India's youngest captain and the third youngest captain in the world.
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi played 46 test matches for India between 1961 and 1975. During this period, he scored 2793 runs in 83 innings at an average of 34.91. In his Test career, Pataudi had scored 15 half-centuries and 6 centuries. He captained India in 40 matches, winning 9 of them. However, as captain, he has only 9 wins in his name. But at that time the Indian team was very weak. It was considered certain to lose in every match, which Pataudi changed during his captaincy and started winning.
