Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi
Encyclopedia
Iftikhar Ali Khan , sometimes I.A.K. Pataudi (16 March 1910—5 January 1952) was the 8th Nawab of Pataudi
Nawab of Pataudi
The term Nawab of Pataudi may refer to any of an Afghan/Pashtun lineage of rulers of the princely Pataudi State in India, but most commonly refers to the 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, who played cricket for both England and India. Both he and his son the 9th Nawab captained the Indian...

and captain of the Indian cricket team
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

. He was one of few cricketers to have played for two countries, having also played for the English Test side. Iftikhar Ali Khan's son Mansoor
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
Mansoor Ali Khan or Mansur Ali Khan , sometimes M.A.K. Pataudi , nicknamed Tiger Pataudi, was an Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team...

 also later served as captain of the Indian cricket team, a father-son feat without parallel in India.

Personal life

Iftikhar Ali Khan was born at Pataudi House in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

, into the family of the Nawabs of Pataudi
Nawab of Pataudi
The term Nawab of Pataudi may refer to any of an Afghan/Pashtun lineage of rulers of the princely Pataudi State in India, but most commonly refers to the 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, who played cricket for both England and India. Both he and his son the 9th Nawab captained the Indian...

, a small non-salute princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

 located in the present-day Indian state of Haryana
Haryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...

. He was the son of Nawab Muhammad Ibrahim Ali Khan of Pataudi
Pataudi
Pataudi is a town in Gurgaon district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located from Gurgaon, at the foot hills of the Aravali hills.Pataudi was the seat of Pataudi State which was ruled by the Nawabs of Pataudi. The 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, played cricket for both England and...

 and his wife Shahar Bano Begum, daughter of a Nawab of Loharu. Thus he was related to great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib
Mirza Ghalib
Dabir-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-Daula Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan , pen-name Ghalib and Asad , was a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule...

 as well as later day Pakistan prime minister Liaqat Ali Khan.

Educated at Chiefs' College (later renamed Aitchison College
Aitchison College
Aitchison College, Lahore, is one of the most prestigious educational institutions of its kind in South Asia. Established in 1886, it has retained its character over the years, maintaining the public school tradition of providing an education that uses academics, sports and co-curricular activities...

), Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

, and at Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

, Iftikhar married Begum Sajida Sultan
Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal
Sajida Sultan was a Begum of Bhopal in her own right, and consort to a Nawab of Pataudi.Sajida was the second daughter of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, last ruling Nawab of Bhopal. She was the grand daughter of Begum Sultan Jahan, the fourth ruling queen of Bhopal...

, second daughter of Hamidullah Khan, last ruling Nawab of Bhopal
Nawab of Bhopal
The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of the princely state of Bhopal, now part of the modern state of Madhya Pradesh, in India. The last Nawab was Hamidullah Khan, who acceded his state to India in 1947....

, in 1939. Hamidullah Khan was to have been succeeded in the titles and privileges associated with the ruling house of Bhopal by his eldest daughter Abida Sultan
Abida Sultan
Princess Suraya Jah, Nawab Gowhar-i-Taj, Abida Sultan Begum Sahiba was the eldest daughter of Hamidullah Khan, the last nawab of the Bhopal state. In 1928, she was recognized as the heiress apparent to the Bhopal throne...

, She emigrated to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 in the aftermath of the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

.His voluntary accession of his state to India by going to Delhi has been recounted in V P Menon 's book "The story of Integration of Indian States".V P Menon remembered him as "Great Patriot who unfortunately died young". Sajida
Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal
Sajida Sultan was a Begum of Bhopal in her own right, and consort to a Nawab of Pataudi.Sajida was the second daughter of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, last ruling Nawab of Bhopal. She was the grand daughter of Begum Sultan Jahan, the fourth ruling queen of Bhopal...

 therefore succeeded her father and was recognised by the government of India as Begum of Bhopal
Begum of Bhopal
The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of the princely state of Bhopal, now part of the modern state of Madhya Pradesh, in India. The last Nawab was Hamidullah Khan, who acceded his state to India in 1947....

 in 1961. Upon her demise in 1995, Mansoor
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
Mansoor Ali Khan or Mansur Ali Khan , sometimes M.A.K. Pataudi , nicknamed Tiger Pataudi, was an Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team...

, son of Iftikhar Ali Khan & Sajida Sultan, succeeded to the estates and titles associated with the Nawabs of Bhopal.

Apart from Mansoor Ali Khan
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
Mansoor Ali Khan or Mansur Ali Khan , sometimes M.A.K. Pataudi , nicknamed Tiger Pataudi, was an Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team...

, Iftikhar and Sajida were the parents of three daughters. Iftikhar died at Delhi of a heart-attack, while playing polo, on 5 January 1952, which incidentally was the 11th birthday of his son Mansoor Ali Khan
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
Mansoor Ali Khan or Mansur Ali Khan , sometimes M.A.K. Pataudi , nicknamed Tiger Pataudi, was an Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team...

, who succeeded him as Nawab of Pataudi
Nawab of Pataudi
The term Nawab of Pataudi may refer to any of an Afghan/Pashtun lineage of rulers of the princely Pataudi State in India, but most commonly refers to the 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, who played cricket for both England and India. Both he and his son the 9th Nawab captained the Indian...

, and who was also later to serve as captain of the Indian cricket team
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

. He (Iftikhar Ali Khan) is also the grandfather of Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 actors Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan is an Indian actor known for his work in Bollywood films. He is the son of the late former Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and actress Sharmila Tagore. He has two sisters: Saba Ali Khan and actress Soha Ali Khan....

 and Soha Ali Khan
Soha Ali Khan
- Early life :Khan was born into the erstwhile princely family of Pataudi. She has Muslim Pashtun ancestry through Nawabs of Pataudi lineage from her father's side and Bengali Hindu ancestry from her mother's side...

.

Cricketing career

Iftikhar Ali Khan played for the English cricket team
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 in the 1930s, before becoming captain
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...

 of the Indian cricket team
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

 that toured England in 1946, making him the only Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

er to have played for both England and India. He played in six Tests in all.

Iftikhar went to Oxford in 1927. It was two years before he won a blue; this was for a 106 & 84 that saved a match against Cambridge. In 1931, he scored 1307 runs for Oxford and finished on top of the Oxford averages with 93. In the University match
The University Match (cricket)
The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club...

 that year, A. Ratcliffe scored 201 for Cambridge, a new record. Pataudi declared that he would beat it, and hit 238* on the very next day. This stood as a record for a university match until 2005. Pataudi was qualified for Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...

 in 1932 but played only three matches and scored just 65 runs in six innings. However, his slaughter of Tich Freeman
Tich Freeman
Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman was an English cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most prolific wicket taker in first class cricket history.-Career:Freeman's common name comes from his extremely short...

 with marvellous footwork during an innings of 165 for the Gentlemen at Lord's gained him a place on the Ashes tour for that winter.

Selected for the first Test of the 1932–33 Ashes series, Pataudi followed in the footsteps of Ranjitsinhji, by scoring a century (102) on his Test debut. He nonetheless incurred the ire of his captain Douglas Jardine
Douglas Jardine
Douglas Robert Jardine was an English cricketer and captain of the England cricket team from 1931 to 1933–34.When describing cricket seasons, the convention used is that a single year represents an English cricket season, while two years represent a southern hemisphere cricket season because it...

 by dissenting against Jardine's bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...

 tactics. Upon Pataudi's refusal to take his place in a bodyline leg-side field, Jardine retorted, "I see His Highness is a conscientious objector." He was dropped after the second Test, and did not play again that series. Towards the end of the tour, Pataudi commented, "I am told he has his good points. In three months I have yet to see them."

1933 was Pataudi's only full season of county cricket, and he batted marvellously, again slaughtering Freeman at Worcester and scoring two other double-hundreds. He finished with 1749 runs at an average of 49, but after more brilliant batting early in 1934 his health broke down and he played just ten games. Pataudi did not play at all in 1935 and 1936 and only five times altogether in 1937 and 1938. Nonetheless, in these games he batted so well that Worcestershire, weak in batting, were always regretting he could not play more often.

He was appointed captain for the India tour of England in 1936, but withdrew at the last moment; it was another 10 years before he led India into the field. He played his next three Tests for India as captain in the India tour to England in 1946.

He was also a fine hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

 and billiards player and an accomplished speaker. After the Indian independence, he was employed in the Indian Foreign Office till the time of his death. In 2007, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of India's Test debut, the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 has commissioned a trophy in Pataudi's name to be competed for between India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

 and England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

.
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