Zeenews Sports Bureau
New Delhi: Accolades and tributes from former and present cricketers poured in for the cricket legend Mansur Ali Khan who passed away in Delhi’s Ganga Ram Hospital after a prolonged illness.
Bishen Singh Bedi, while expressing sadness, said that he was shocked to hear the news, adding, “His was by far the most outstanding chapter in the history of India cricket.” Krish Srikanth said, “He never imposed his views on anybody. He was an amazing personality. Determination and aggression is his legacy.”
Former all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath paid tribute to Pataudi, saying, “Great man, fantastic player and great ambassador of the game. He was a positive man and a brilliant player. He brought glamour into the game of cricket. He was a ‘nawab’ on and off the field.”
Pataudi is considered to be the man who inspired a sense of team into Indian players and made them believe that they could win overseas.
According to Dilip Vengsarkar, “I watched him play a lot. He was a very gutsy player.” And Ravi Shastri’s sentiment was, “One of India’s greatest captain. He had a wicked and dry sense of humour. No one should ever forget his contribution to Indian cricket. He actually gave recognition to Indian cricket overseas.”
Mihir Bose, former sports editor, BBC, described him as, “Tiger was a great cricketer. He brought life, vitality in the team. He took chances and made him believe that cricket was fun.”
The younger generation of Indian cricketers and members of the present team also paid respect to the blue-blood cricketer. On an emotional note Sachin Tendulkar said, “Terrible loss to the cricketing world. I really respected Tiger Pataudi.”
“It is a loss that will be felt by a lot of people in cricket. He was an absolute inspiration to so many of us”, said Rahul Dravid. “It is really shocking news for me. Great loss for cricket fans”, added VVS Laxman.
There was tributes on Micro-blogging site Twitter too for the Tiger.
“I was saddened to hear of passing away of Tiger Pataudi. May his soul rest in peace. He was a man which inspired generations of Indians. My heartfelt condolences to his family. We pray to god give them all the strength to deal with the loss. It is a loss to the Nation”, said former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.”
“Saddened by the loss of a great ambassador of Indian sport,” wrote cueist Pankaj Advani.
“RIP Tiger Pataudi,” twitted novelist Salman Rushdie.
