Brave Hearts

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation

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Courage Personified
scoring 1068 runs, the previous record being that of Douglas Jardine that had scored 997 runs in 1919. Pataudi thus broke the earlier record and set a new one that remained intact for forty long years.
Naturally the world of cricket started looking at Pataudi with great expectations. In 1960 Pataudi joined the Baliol College affiliated to the Oxford University. During one of the Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi encounters between the Oxford University and the Cambridge University at Lords, Pataudi scored a brilliant century. When his team had lost three important wickets in just 32 runs, Pataudi came to the crease to bat. On that occasion he scored 131 runs with the help of 18 fours and a six. His father Iftikhar Ali, playing for the first time then, had scored a century years before in a similar encounter between the two teams. It was the first time that a son had emulated his father on the cricket ground. In the very first year, the junior Pataudi too got the 'Blue' emulating his father the senior Pataudi in this respect also.
In 1961 Pataudi's batting was in top form. He was to play a match against a strong Yorkshire County team which had Fred Truman, the well know fast bowler, playing for it. In this encounter too, Pataudi played like a seasoned player. He scored 106 runs in the first innings and 103 runs not out in the second innings. Immediately thereafter he scored 144 runs against Middlesex. Thus by scoring three consecutive
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