Vicky Kaushal, Anupam Kher mourn demise of legendary Indian spinner Bishan Singh Bedi

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 23 (ANI): Actors Vicky Kaushal and Anupam Kher on Monday mourned the demise of legendary spinner and former captain of the Indian cricket team Bishan Singh Bedi.

Taking to Instagram, Vicky shared a picture on his stories which he captioned, “Deeply saddened to hear about the loss of Bishan Singh Bedi Sir. May his soul rest in peace. All my thoughts and prayers go out to my brother Angad, Neha and their family.”

Bishan Singh Bedi was the father of ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ actor Angad Bedi.

Regarded as one of the greatest left-arm spinners in world cricket, Bedi passed away on Monday at the age of 77 years old, leaving a great legacy behind.

Actor Anupam Kher also shared a picture on his Instagram stories and wrote, “A cricketer and a Gentleman! Om Shanti! #BishanSinghBedi.”

The Amritsar-born spinner was the leading wicket-taker amongst Indians in First-Class cricket with 1,560 wickets in 370 matches. He played 67 Tests for India between 1967 and 1979 and picked 266 wickets. He also took seven wickets in 10 One-Day Internationals.

Bedi, along with Erapalli Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar and S Venkataraghavan, was the architect of a revolution of sorts in India’s spin bowling history.

In the Australian summer of 1977-78, the Indian cricket team – under the leadership of Bedi – displayed one of its grittiest performances in the five-match Test series. Even though the results were 3-2 in favour of the Bob Simpson-led home team, Bedi’s team put on a mighty fight, clinching wins in the third and fourth Tests — in Melbourne and Sydney.

Bedi was the Indian national team’s first professional head coach in 1990 and emphasised fitness. After quitting the Indian team role, Bedi coached quite a few state teams and guided Punjab to its only Ranji Trophy win, in the 1992-93 season.

He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1970. Bedi also represented Northamptonshire in English county cricket for many years.