Bishan Singh Bedi: Indian cricket legend dies aged 77

Bedi was regarded as one of the world's finest spin bowlers

Indian cricket legend Bishan Singh Bedi has died aged 77 after a prolonged illness.

He was battling age-related illnesses and had undergone a few surgeries in recent years.

Bedi, regarded as one of the world's finest ever spin bowlers, captained India in 22 of his 67 Tests and took 266 wickets.

He made his debut against West Indies in 1966 and played his last Test against England at The Oval in 1979.

Bedi also played English county cricket for Northamptonshire and finished his career with 1,560 first-class wickets, the highest by any Indian bowler.

Bedi was an integral part of a famed quartet of India's world-beating spin bowlers in the 1960s and 70s, which included Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. In 2021, Bedi was picked by readers for a place in BBC Sport's all-time India Test XI.

Born in Amritsar in India's Punjab state, Bedi began playing cricket at school. When he turned 20, he became the 113th cricketer to represent India in Tests.

Over a 12-year career his best bowling performance came in 1969 when he picked up seven wickets for 98 runs against Australia in Kolkata (then known as Calcutta), a Test match that India lost.

In his trademark pink or bright blue turban, Bedi was a spin bowling purist's dream. With a languid run-up and a fluid action, bowling came naturally to him. Cricket writer H Natarajan described the left arm spinner as "stealthy, silent and deadly, a master of deception who conjured variations in flight, loop, spin and pace without any perceptible change in action".

Bedi had an elegant action

"Bedi flighted the ball higher than any bowler in international cricket; if he could challenge quick-footed batsmen thus, it was only because his command was so complete that he would make the ball descend far quicker than it went up," wrote Ramachandra Guha, a historian and author of A Corner of a Foreign Field, a book on Indian cricket.

Former India wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani, who played 88 Tests for India, once said Bedi had so much variation that he could "bowl six different deliveries in an over".

West Indies legend Sir Garry Sobers, one of the greatest all-rounders ever to play cricket, said Bedi "took the weight off the ball nicely". Mike Brearley, one of England's greatest captains, called his bowling "beautiful".

And Australia great Sir Donald Bradman, widely regarded as the game's best batter of all time, felt that "Bedi was a real study for the connoisseur and amongst the finest bowlers of his type".

Bedi was also a rare outspoken cricketer, often getting embroiled in controversies.

In 1976, he declared India's second innings at 97-5 against Clive Lloyd's West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica, in protest against intimidatory bowling by the hosts.

Three India batters were out of the game after being hit by West Indian quick bowlers, and Bedi said it was not a declaration because there were no fit players to come out and bat. West Indies won the game by 10 wickets.

In 1977, he accused England left-arm fast bowler John Lever of using Vaseline to swing the ball during a tour of India. The next year, he forfeited a match against Pakistan, alleging partisan umpiring.

'Bedi flighted the ball higher than any bowler in international cricket'

In 1990, as the national coach, he threatened to dump the India team in the sea after they lost a match against Australia. In 2002, he launched a stunning attack on Sri Lanka's spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan, accusing him of throwing.

"If Murali doesn't chuck, then show me how to bowl," Bedi said in an interview published in Wisden Cricket Asia.

Back in 1978, he refused a lucrative contract from Kerry Packer to play World Series Cricket, a rebel tournament in Australia, later recounting that Packer's agent had approached him three times with substantial offers.

Decades later, he upbraided player auctions in the Indian Premier League, saying that he "just did not like players being treated like horses being sold to the highest bidder".

At home, Bedi never pulled his punches while criticising cricket board officials.

He asked for his name to be taken off from a stand at the main cricket stadium in Delhi in protest against the statue of a dead politician belonging to the ruling BJP being installed. He once appeared on a TV programme without permission and sought higher match fees for his team. "If speaking one's mind is a crime, then I am guilty several times over," he said once.

Bedi was an intensely social person and a flamboyant personality. His daughter remembered a "home full of free-flowing alcohol, food and an insurmountable amount of loud laughter". He loved dogs and brought various breeds from kennel clubs home from his stints in the UK.

Bedi was an outspoken sportsman and often courted controversy

The "sardar of spin" - as he was popularly called in India - had an infectious sense of humour.

In England, he once picked up two dogs from a kennel, named them Charles and Diana and took them to India. At the London airport, an official asked him, "Are you taking the mickey out of our royalty?". A deadpan Bedi replied: "No! I am taking the royalty with me."

The wisecrack summed up Bedi in many ways: an irreverent personality, and a rebel of sorts. And of course, one of the greatest cricketers of all time.