Bishan Singh Bedi
Description
S. Bishan Singh Bedi was born on 25th September 1946 in Amritsar. He was only 20 years old when he
started playing cricket for his country. His first Test match was played against West Indies on 31st December
1966. His last Test match was against England played on 30th August 1979. During these years he also
played One Day cricket starting from 1974 to 1979. He was primarily a slow left arm spinner and formed
part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He played a total of 67 Test matches and took 266 wickets. As he
was the first Sikh to captain the Indian Cricket Team in 22 Test matches, he became a role-model. Earlier to
him the Sikhs used to play by covering their knot of hair with hanker chiefs, he introduced ‘patka’ to cover
full head and since then patka has been used by the Sikh players. He holds the world record for the most
economical bowling figures in a 60-overs ODI match amongst the bowlers who had completed their quota
of overs (12 overs). In the 1975 World Cup, when the bowlers were allowed to deliver 12 overs, Bedi finished
with 12-8-61 (overs-maidens-runs-wickets) against East Africa at Headingley. After his Cricket career, he
was the first person to be appointed as a full time coach in 1990. However, as he had differences with the
people, he left this job. Presently he is living in Delhi and gives his views whenever asked. He is, undoubtedly
an inspirational person in the field of sports, particularly cricket.
