Orthodox bowler, unorthodox man

It was a moment last Sunday India vs New Zealand as Virat carried us to victory on his shoulders bounding up and down a man machine run chaser when he took off his helmet in triumph I had an insight 80 per cent of our team looks similarmdashall Kohli acolyteshellip identical beards similar haircuts worked out bodies aggressive street fighting dispositionshellip KL Rahul Jasprit Jaddu Siraj Shreyas ShamimdashCut from the same cloth in the same shadowAnd in the middle of this frenzy the circus that is the World Cup the intense noise iconsturned commentators venting Bishan Singh Bedi passed away The Sardar of Spin perhaps the greatest left arm spinner of all time breathed his last A unique man the Sikh dressed in white sporting either a light blue or light pink turban clapping his hands that relaxed action allowing him to bowl all day had left the ldquobuildingrdquoBishan Bedi was a gentle breeze in a time of noisy tsunamishellip a grandfather clock in the time of TikToksAnd it seemed like the sport had suddenly quietened down bereft of the insanity we had returned to a bygone era of radio commentary and black and white imagesmdashof Indian cricketers who stamped individual identities not spoilt by Insta and IPL or inane ad commercials or inane interviews or insane wealthWe all ldquotimed outrdquo to mourn the death of Indiarsquos most colourful controversial player wearing his heart on his sleeve as he rolled them up to bowl to outfox another hapless batsmanIt is ironic that Bishen Bedi was so outspoken so transparent while he let his bowling silently do the talking Bishan Bedi was an unhurried manAlso read Familial love gone too farThose 1970s teams I loved to watch first at the CCI then at the newly opened Wankhede Stadium I used to open the bowling for school so Lillee and Imran were my heroes white flannels red streaks from the shining of the ball swagger seam and swing going hand in hand But we never had fast bowlers in those years till Kapil Dev popped upmdashmy obsession was the quartet of spin bowlers Chandra Prasanna Venkat and Bedimdashadd to that Farokh Engineer from Dadar Parsi Colony behind the stumps Ekki Solker at short leg Sunny Gavaskar in the slips and Abid Ali and you had a powerful performing Lagaan outfit This team was bookended by Wadekar and Sardesai in the early 1970s and Jimmy Amarnath and Gundappa Vishwanath later But it was the BediPrasanna relationship that always magnetised me nagging left arm spin at one end biting right hand off spin at the othermdashthe batsmen had no respite Bedi fielding at midoff as Pras bowled and then sprinting towards each other having plotted the end of another batsmanWhat fascinated me was these gents hardly played together only Test series to Test series in a non ODI T20 era but they fused first under Wadekar then Pataudi and finally Bedi himselfFor every series that India played in Bombay I managed a ticket directly behind the bowler watching intently behind binoculars Bedi especially that utterly relaxed action as he dipped into an invisible bag of tricks the arm ball the googly the Chinaman the slower one the faster one the wrong rsquoun the flight the turn the guile he had everything for any kind of condition at home and overseasTwo moments will stay with me forevermdash1 Sharmila Tagore consoling Kapil Dev at the funeral Bedi believed that Pataudi was his mentor and captain who truly understood him2 Intikhab Alam the Pakistani cricketer and Bedirsquos great friend singing Louis Armstrongrsquos ldquoWhat a Wonderful Worldrdquo at the Kartar Sahib Gurdwara and the wheelchairbound Bishanrsquos laughter that followedAlam said this about his friend ldquoPeople always talk about his action and how great a bowler he was I used to tease him lsquoOye Sardar tu bowling karta hai ya Ghalib ke sher sunatarsquo Such a beautiful action he hadrdquoRest well oh Sultan of Spin Irsquom guessing your lack of diplomacy will rule the heavensRahul daCunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright photographer and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom