When Afghanistan took on Pakistan on October 23rd 2023, it was a poignant day for Bishan Bedi to bid farewell to his world, as seven spin bowlers were playing in a single game; with every spinner not only bowling with a clean action but also a variety of spinners on display. There were three leg spinners, one chinaman leggie, and three off-spinners with a clean action. All to the credit of the voice of Bedi.
Illegal Bowling Actions
I have never watched Bishan Bedi bowl in cricket, as he belongs to the class of cricketers that bowled in a black-and-white era that existed before I was even born. I never even knew what kind of spin he delivered, but I knew he was an Indian spinner. Yet, Bedi is known by my generation for his fearless voice.
Throughout the 21st century, Bedi started speaking up against Muttiah Muralitharan. No one paid heed and Murali ended up enjoying a full career and retiring. But allowing Murali to bowl with an illegal action had opened the floodgates of chuckers that were to come. The likes of Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Ashwin etc, started to emerge with dodgy actions. As these spinners got more spin by chucking, subcontinent teams started to prefer off-spinners over other spin bowlers.
Countries like Pakistan even had someone like Adnan Rasool, who also chucked deliveries, up and ready as Ajmal’s backup.
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Bishan Bedi and his Crusade
When Bishan Bedi kept bemoaning about spinners with illegal actions, many of us thought of him as another ex-cricketer who loves to whine. Bedi did not care about what nationality you belonged to, if you were a chucker he would call you out. To him, being politically correct or defending one’s national bowler did not matter. He called out Harbhajan Singh for chucking as he did to Saeed Ajmal.
Eventually, his voice was heard by the likes of Anil Kumble, who then took action and started to implement ICC laws against chuckers before the 2015 World Cup started.
A New World for Spinners
As right-arm off-spinners were banned left and right in the subcontinent, leg spinners started to emerge. 10 years back, a leg spinner would have not been able to get into the team, and many youngsters would not have picked up the art of leg spin. In fact, after Shahid Afridi, a long gap of leg spinners came forward. However, not only leg spin, but even left-arm spin, and clean-off spin bowling as well started to emerge.
Bedi’s voice is what saved spin bowling. A dying art that would re-emerge again because of the likes of Bedi who kept on reminding everyone that what off-spinners were doing with their illegal arm bend was wrong.
While many consider Bishan Bedi as the “King of Left Arm Spin”, that title is an understatement, as the Sardar was truly the “King of Spin”.
Today, the mystery spinner is no longer the guy who bowls the doosra with an illegal bowling action, but someone who bowls leg spin with their left hand.
As Afghanistan took on Pakistan, with seven spinners in play, it was maybe the perfect day for Bedi to bid farewell to us, as the game of cricket was now clean of illegal bowling actions and he had done his work one final time for the world of cricket.
Farewell Bedi Sa’ab.
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