Bishan Singh Bedi: India spin champion and impetuous cricket crusader

Former skipper Bishan Singh Bedi, who died aged 77 on Monday, claimed 266 wickets in 67 Tests, leading the team on 22 occasions after succeeding Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi as captain. His younger peers revered him as a grand statesman of the sport, never shy on offering trenchant opinions on issues plaguing the game, or backing other cricketers. “Critics would call Bishan a rebel. Wrong. To me, he was a cricketer who knew his rights well,” former captain Kapil Dev wrote in a book on Bedi.