Mumbai: Hindi film actor Saif Ali Khan revealed how former England cricketer Geoff Boycott’s comments once annoyed his father — legendary former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.
“Boycott, who I really looked up to, made me really angry one day. He said: ‘I heard about your father, it’s not possible to play Test cricket with one eye’,” Saif, Pataudi’s son, told Sportskeeda during a recent interaction.
“I asked him if he thinks my father is lying, to which he replied, ‘Yes! I think he’s making it up,” he added.
“I told my father that, and he got really annoyed. He said, ‘Well, I was bloody good with two eyes. I’m just good with one.’ That was the only arrogant remark I ever heard him make,” Saif added.
The Nawab of Pataudi – later Mansur Ali Khan – was, arguably, India’s greatest captain ever, took over as captain at the age of 21, barely months after being involved in a car accident that would impair the sight in his right eye forever. He led India in 40 of 46 Tests he played in, and won 9 of them.
“If he didn’t want to tour, he would say he wasn’t available. He said it was a game and he was losing interest in the game in the ’60s because he thought there was too much cricket,” Saif further added.
IANS