Tiger Pataudi: 16 fascinating facts about the cricketing royal

Mansur Ali Khan was born with a silver spoon in the mouth.

Pataudi, born January 5, 1941, would have been 76 had he been alive today. H Natarajan lists 16 little-known facts about the blue-blooded former Indian captain.

 

1. His full name was Mohammad Mansur Ali Khan of Pataudi.

 

2. Pataudi once said that he got the nickname “Tiger” as a kid, well before he started playing cricket. “I don’t know why, except as an infant, it seems, I had a tigerish propensity for crawling energetically about the floor on all fours,” explains Pataudi in his autobiography.

 

3. Mansur Ali Khan was born with a silver spoon in the mouth. He lived in a palace which had 150 rooms, over 100 servants, seven or eight of whom were personal attendants of Pataudi as a kid. Besides, the palace had huge grounds, stables and garage.

 

4. As Ray Robinson, the great Australian writer wrote in the People magazine in 1967, Pataudi traces his roots to Ali Khan, a Muslim who came from Afghanistan in the 16th century at the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. The British Raj conferred the title Nawab of Pataudi in 1806, with a grant of 52 square miles.

 

5. Pataudi held the title of Nawab of Pataudi by right, having succeeded his father [Iftikhar Ali Khan of Pataudi], who ruled over some 25,000 inhabitants of a small state of Punjab, 30 miles South-West of Delhi.

 

6. Pataudi was celebrating his 11th birthday with his older sister Saleha and younger sisters Sabiha and Qudisa when his mother entered the room and told the kids, “Your father is dead!” Pataudi Senior died on the saddle while playing a polo match. He was just 41.

 

7. Tiger Pataudi’s first meaningful coach as a youngster was from the great Frank Wooley, the legendary English all-rounder whose tally of 58,959 runs if the second highest in First-Class cricket, behind Sir Jack Hobbs.

 

8. Tiger Pataudi was a first cousin of Shahryar Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and former Pakistan ambassador to Jordan, United Kingdom and France.

 

9. Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan of Pataudi, who was a Major General in the Pakistan Army, is MAK Pataudi’s uncle. The uncle wanted Tiger to study at Wellington, but Pataudi’s father wishes prevailed and young Tiger joined Winchester.

 

10. In four years at Winchester College, Pataudi scored a total of 2036 runs — the last 1068 runs coming in his last 18 innings. In doing so, Pataudi beat the schools record set by Douglas Jardine. The England captain, it may be recalled, had a frosty relationship with Pataudi senior because he could not agree with Bodyline tactics that led to the most acrimonious series in Test history.

 

11. Pataudi had a natural liking for other sports. He teamed up with Christopher Snell to win the public schools rackets title. He played hockey and billiards for Oxford. Pataudi also played soccer as a wing-half.

 

12. Pataudi made his county championship debut at age 16 for Sussex against Worcestershire, his father’s old county.

 

13. Tiger was a great fan of Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mahmood and Mohammad Rafi.

 

14. “He [Pataudi] was equally sporting on the dance floor if Harry Belafonte or Ella Fitzgerald were belting out their numbers,” says his Pataudi’s wife Sharmila.

 

15. A plaque in the honour of Pataudi was unveiled at the Oxford University pavilion in the presence of his family.

 

16. Pataudi, who had lost his right eye in a road accident, donated his good eye. Immediately after his death, Pataudi’s eye was preserved and sent to Venue Eye Institute and Research Institute. Pataudi and his wife Sharmila have espoused the cause of eye donation.

 

NB: A lot of facts and figures in the book have been sourced from Pataudi’s autobiography, “Tiger’s Tale” and Pataudi – Nawab of cricket.

 

 

(H Natarajan is a journalistic schizophrenic who oscillates between two polar opposite forms of writing — analytical and insightful on the one hand, and rib-tickling humour on the other)

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