Mansur Ali Khan emulated his father Ithikar Ali, the senior Nawab of Pataudi in captaining India. He was the youngest to captain when he took over the reins in the wake of a tragic near-death mishap to then captain Nari Contractor in the West Indies in 1962.

It did not take long for him to make a great impact in Indian cricket? Tiger, as he was fondly called, turned out to be India's greatest captain. During his captaincy, India won their first Test abroad.

What a great batsman he already was, but how much greater he would have been had he not lost an eye in a car accident in Brighton during his County days. The knock of 80 plus that he scored in Australia in 1967 soon after the mishap, being further impaired by a hamstring strain, made cricket aficionados call it one of the greatest knocks in Test cricket. Standing on just one good leg and sight only in one eye, he thrashed one of the strongest Australian attack like no one had.

He never left his Nawabi habits, something, which thrilled him. But with colleagues and friends he was a jolly good fellow, playing practical jokes, especially the younger players. He had paid "bandits" to kidnap debutant Gundappa Viswanath when they passed through a forest in Madhya Pradesh. Tiger intervened with a gun and hugged Vishy.

He not only gave new meaning to facing big challenges he himself had done that at the age of 21 when he became captain but also brought in a high standard of fielding. Today, you see fielders sliding all over the field but imagine a young Indian player doing that in 1964. Spectators at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium were then thrilled seeing Pataudi slide and skate on his heels to intercept full-blooded drives.

Did Indian cricket administrators treat him well? Not quite. Vijay Merchant, had not forgotten that he had lost the Indian captaincy to the Senior Nawab of Pataudi for the tour of England in 1946. When Merchant became the chairman of selectors in 1971, the first thing he did was to end the most successful run as India's captain by removing him by his casting vote.

A greatly hurt Pataudi decided to call it a day. But after the disastrous tour of England in 1974, Tiger was requested to take over the reins of captaincy in the home series against the West Indies. Without the services of an injured Sunil Gavaskar, Tiger leveled the series after being 0-2 against Clive Lloyd's team. In the end the series was lost 2-3.

A veritable Prince Charming Mansur Ali Khan changed the fortunes of Indian cricket. For all his achievements and a station in life, Tiger remained unassuming. He never hankered for any high post. But when a responsibility was trusted on him, he was absolutely outspoken.

He was indeed the Nawab of all he surveyed.