Tale of three nawabs

Book REVIEW

cricket biography

 

Tale of three nawabs

 

by Rajendra Bajpai

 

this is not a biography of the Nawab of Pataudi but a tale of three nawabs – Mansur Ali Khan, his father, Iftikhar, both Oxford Blues, and Saif Ali Khan, the actor and now the Nawab of Pataudi.

 

Iftikhar played for both Oxford and India at a time when cricket politics was dominated by nawabs, princes and moneyed zamindars; Mansur came in when politics was still rife but in the hands of politicians and other moneybags.

 

Wadhwaney, who knew Mansur well and had met Iftikhar once or twice, traces the son’s cricket career in detail and examines his batting style, which was extraordinary, considering he had only one good eye but that did not prevent him from making elegant strokes. Mansur was agile on the field and kept his good eye focused on the ball until he got hold of it...Read More