Tiger Pataudi: The Greatest Story Ever Told
It’s a nightmare to face great bowlers like Derek Underwood, Barry Knight, Graham McKenzie, Wes Hall, Frank Worrell, Garry Sobers, and Lance Gibbs back in the day. How difficult it would be to face them with just one eye. Now, what if while facing the delivery with one eye, someone saw two red cherries coming at him and had to pick the legitimate one. You must be thinking that’s not possible. Well, let me tell you one of the greatest stories in cricket History. The story of the great Indian captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, also known as Tiger Pataudi.
Embed from Getty ImagesTiger went to England to study at Oxford University. He was a batting prodigy. At the age of 16, he made his first-class debut for Sussex in August 1957. Unfortunately, he damaged his eyes in a car accident in Hove in 1961. Broken glass from the car’s windscreen damaged his right eye permanently. He had to install a glass eye. When he went again for batting, he started viewing double images. He played and missed multiple times and finally realized the lower of the two images was the actual cricket ball.
Playing with one eye and saw two cricket balls and picked the lower of the two balls while batting was just unbelievable skills. Tiger never complained or repented. He always gave his best on and off the field. Tiger played 46 Test matches and scored 2793 runs with an average of 34.91. He played for India between 1961 to 1975.