In this episode, we chat with the veteran cricket writer Suresh Menon on one of India’s greatest cricketers – Bishan Bedi
Suresh talks about his early impressions of Bedi and the spin quartet, and explores his relationship with Bedi as a fan, a cricket writer, a biographer and a friend.
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Talking Points:
- The late 1960s and the inception of the spin quartet
- Bedi the prodigy – born to bowl spin
- Bedi under Pataudi and Wadekar – the blossoming of an artist
- Suresh’s 2011 biography – Bishan: portrait of an artist
- The craft of left-arm spin – Bedi’s digital manipulations
- Why Bedi v Pras might have been more logical than Venkat v Pras
- ‘No Bedi, no Test’
- The Vaseline affair in 1976
- Bedi’s knack for speaking his mind (and getting into trouble)
- Bedi – the father of cricket in North Zone and Delhi
- His various post-playing avatars – but always calling a spade a spade
Participants:
Suresh Menon (@surmenon)
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)
Related:
Bishan: Portrait of an Artist – Suresh Menon’s 2011 biography of Bedi – Amazon.com
Graceful and gracious – Suresh Menon on his favourite cricketer, Bishan Bedi – ESPNcricinfo.com
‘I was obsessed with bowling’ -Bishan Bedi interview – The Cricket Monthly
Never a cricketer of the year – Mike Brearley on Bishan Bedi -Wisden Almanack
‘A Lillee Among Slow Bowlers’ – Gideon Haigh on Bedi – The Cricketer
Bedi v Kim Hughes – 1977, Sydney – YouTube.com
Sydney Test 1977, Day 4 – Jai Galagali’s channel – YouTube.com
Bedi interview with Karan Thapar, 2000 – YouTube.com
Feeling is the Thing that Happens in 1000th of a Second – Christian Ryan – Amazon.com
From Bedi to Kohli: a cricket writer’s journey – 81allout podcast with Vijay Lokapally
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Lead image from here.