| Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan of Pataudi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nawab of Pataudi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi in 1931 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nawab of Pataudi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 1917–1948 1948–1952 (titular ruler) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coronation | December 1931 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Muhammad Ibrahim Ali Khan Pataudi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (as titular ruler) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi 16 March 1910 Pataudi,Pataudi State,British India (present-dayHaryana, India) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 5 January 1952(1952-01-05) (aged 41) New Delhi, India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Burial | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consort | Sajida Sultan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issue | Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and 3 daughters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| House | Pataudi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Father | Muhammad Ibrahim Ali Khan Pataudi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Shahar Bano Begum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Cricketer andCivil servant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Pat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National sides | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 265/32) | 2 December 1932 England v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 20 August 1946 India v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1928–1931 | Oxford University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1932–1938 | Worcestershire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1945/46 | Southern Punjab | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:ESPNcricinfo,12 May 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NawabMohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, sometimesI. A. K. Pataudi (16 March 1910 – 5 January 1952), was an Indianprince and cricket player.
He was thecaptain of theIndia's national cricket team during itstour of England in 1946. His sonMansoor also later served as captain of the India cricket team.
He also playedTest cricket for theEngland team in 1932 and 1934, making him one of the few cricketers to have played Test cricket for two countries and the only Test cricketer to have played for both India and England.[1] He played in six Tests in all, three as captain of India and three for England.[2]
Pataudi was the rulingNawab of theprincely state ofPataudi during theBritish Raj from 1917 until 1947. After the state wasabsorbed into independent India, he was granted aprivy purse, certain privileges, and the use of the titleNawab of Pataudi by theGovernment of India,[3] which he retained until his death in 1952.
Iftikhar Ali Khan was born at the Pataudi House into the family of theNawabs of Pataudi, a small (137 square kilometres (53 sq mi))non-saluteprincely state nearDelhi, located in the present-dayGurugram district of theIndian state ofHaryana. The Pataudi family traces their origin to Faiz Talab Khan, an ethnicPashtun of theBarech tribe, fromKandahar, Afghanistan, who became the first Nawab of the Pataudi State in 1804.[4]
Iftikhar Ali Khan was the elder son of Nawab Muhammad Ibrahim Ali Khan ofPataudi and his wife Shahar Bano Begum, daughter of Amiruddin Ahmad Khan, theNawab of Loharu. Thus, he was related to the great Urdu poetMirza Ghalib as well as later dayPakistan prime minister,Liaqat Ali Khan. His brother,Sher Ali Khan Pataudi and nephew, Isfandiyar Ali Khan Pataudi, both served as a Major General ofPakistan Army. His sister, Begum Abida Sultana's son,Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, was a cricketer and civil servant in Pakistan. He became Nawab on his father's death in 1917 and was formally appointed ruler in December 1931. His state became part of the newlyindependent India in 1948. After Indian independence, he was employed in theIndian Foreign Office until his death.
Educated at Chiefs' College (later renamedAitchison College),Lahore, and atBalliol College, Oxford, Iftikhar marriedBegum Sajida Sultan, second daughter ofHamidullah Khan, last rulingNawab of Bhopal, in 1939. Hamidullah Khan was to have been succeeded in the titles and privileges associated with the ruling house ofBhopal by his eldest daughterAbida Sultan. She emigrated toPakistan in the aftermath of thepartition of India. His voluntary accession of his state to India by going to Delhi has been recounted inV P Menon's bookThe story of Integration of Indian States. V P Menon remembered him as "Great Patriot who unfortunately died young". Sajida therefore succeeded her husband and was recognised by the government of India asBegum of Bhopal in 1961. Upon her demise in 1995, her son Mansoor succeeded to the estates and titles associated with the Nawabs of Bhopal.
Iftikhar Ali Khan was coached at school in India by Oxford cricketer M. G. Slater and then in England byFrank Woolley. He went to Oxford in 1927. It was two years before he won a blue; this was for a 106 and 84 that saved a match against Cambridge. In the 1931 season, he scored 1,307 runs for Oxford and finished with abatting average of 93, heading the Oxford averages. In theUniversity Match that year,Alan 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 the University Match until 2005. Pataudi qualified to play forWorcestershire in 1932 but played only three matches and scored just 65 runs in six innings. However, his slaughter ofTich Freeman with marvellous footwork during an innings of 165 for theGentlemen atLord's in July 1932 gained him a place on theAshes tour for that winter. He was selected as aWisden Cricketer of the Year in 1932.
He was selected for the first Test of the1932–33 Ashes series, Pataudi followed in the footsteps ofRanjitsinhji by scoring a century (102) on his Test debut inSydney, whichEngland won by 10 wickets. He nonetheless incurred the ire of his captainDouglas Jardine by dissenting against Jardine'sbodyline 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 in Melbourne, in which he scored 15 and 5, and did not play again that series.
It is said that Jardine told him he would never play for his "adopted country" again,[5] presumably a comment with racial implications (since Jardine himself had been born in India, and was of Scottish parentage, England was his "adopted country" also). Pataudi did play one further time for England and, towards the end of the 1932-33 tour, he said of Jardine: "I am told he has his good points. In three months I have yet to see them."[6]
1933 was Pataudi's only full season of county cricket, and he batted marvelously, 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, although recording a batting average of 91.33. He played in his third and last Test for England in June 1934, against Australia at Trent Bridge, scoring 12 and 10. 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 has been considered as a possible captain for the India team in its first Test match in 1932, at Lord's, but withdrew his name from consideration. He was appointed captain for the India tour of England in 1936, but withdrew at the last moment, ostensibly on health grounds. He finally played for India when he captained thetour to England in 1946. Despite averaging 46.71 on the tour, he scored only 55 runs in 5 Test innings, and his captaincy was also criticized. He was Indian Cricketer of the Year in 1946/47. He planned a return to play for Worcestershire for the 1952 county cricket season but died in India before he came back.
Iftikhar Ali Khan was also a finehockey and billiards player and an accomplished speaker. In 2007, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of India's Test debut, theMarylebone Cricket Club commissioned a trophy in Pataudi's name, to be competed for in the Test series between India and England.
In addition to their son, Iftikhar and Sajida were also the parents of three daughters. Iftikhar died in Delhi of a heart attack while playing polo on 5 January 1952,[7] coincidentally his sonMansoor Ali Khan's eleventh birthday. That son succeeded him as the 9thNawab of Pataudi, and later also served as captain of the Indian cricket team. Iftikhar was also the grandfather ofBollywood actorsSaif Ali Khan andSoha Ali Khan.
The crucial document was the Instrument of Accession by which rulers ceded to the legislatures of India or Pakistan control over defence, external affairs, and communications. In return for these concessions, the princes were to be guaranteed a privy purse in perpetuity and certain financial and symbolic privileges such as exemption from customs duties, the use of their titles, the right to fly their state flags on their cars, and to have police protection. ... By December 1947 Patel began to pressure the princes into signing Merger Agreements that integrated their states into adjacent British Indian provinces, soon to be called states or new units of erstwhile princely states, most notably Rajasthan, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, and Matsya Union (Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karaulli).
Media related toIftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by | Indian National Test Cricket Captain 1946 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Nawab of Pataudi 1917–1952 | Succeeded by |