A who’s who of international cricket and Bollywood has come together to pay tribute to spin-bowling legend and former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi on his 80th birth anniversary on September 25, 2026.
From India’s first World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev to Bedi’s close friend Mushtaq Mohammed of Pakistan, who played alongside him for English county Northamptonshire, and West Indian great Michael Holding to Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore, several prominent names have contributed to a commemorative book compiled by Bedi’s wife Anju.
Titled Bishan, With Love: Celebrating a Lifetime of Memories, the book is scheduled to be released in New Delhi on September 25 by Kapil Dev, who made his international debut under Bedi’s captaincy during India’s 1978–79 tour of Pakistan, and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
Family memories
The book also features contributions from Anju’s son Angad and Bedi’s daughter Neha, besides an unexpected contributor: Neha’s 11-year-old daughter Suhavi.
“My granddaughter, Suhavi, who is 11 years old and good at academics, has written a beautiful piece,” Anju told Patriot.
Two family members who will not feature in the book are Angad’s wife, Bollywood actor Neha Dhupia, and his brother-in-law Gautam. Anju said Gautam opted out as he felt the focus should remain on Bedi’s immediate family.
“He told me that this space is only for you and your children, so you should ask only them to write. So, it’s okay,” Anju said. Dhupia, on the other hand, was busy.
Bedi’s daughter Neha said her contribution focuses largely on the lessons she learnt from her father.
“Largely, my focus has always been on dad as a human being, and what I have learnt and imbibed from him, the qualities that I have unconsciously seen while growing up,” she said. “That has made me what I am today.”
She described her father as “a man far ahead of his times” and said he had prepared his children to face the real world.
“There was no other ambition as such. He wanted us to be good human beings. And he succeeded, as that is something that both Angad and I have become, I think,” she said.
“When you become a parent, what is your critique and what is said about you comes from your own child. So, if you are good in your child’s eyes, I think you have succeeded somewhere. That is what I feel.”
Explaining how her daughter came to contribute to the book, Neha said Suhavi had been too young to understand the significance of an earlier book on Bedi.
“This time, she herself offered to write because she has started playing serious cricket, and has imbibed the junoon (passion) that dad used to talk about. She recently played the School Games Nationals,” she said.
A book for his 80th
Bedi was born on September 25, 1946, in Amritsar. He represented Northern Punjab from 1961-62 to 1966-67 in domestic cricket before switching to Delhi, for whom he played with distinction from 1968-69 to 1980-81.
He died in New Delhi on October 23, 2023, aged 77, following multiple ailments.
At the beginning of this year, Anju decided to mark her husband’s 80th birth anniversary with a book.
“It was my own idea. It was just from my heart. I was toying with the idea for almost a year. I wanted to unveil the person that he was,” she said.
According to Anju, the book took around eight to 10 months to compile, with contributors responding readily to her request.
“Everybody responded so well. Everyone I contacted gave me such a quick response that I didn’t have to chase them. People were very cooperative, everybody. So, that was very nice,” she said.
Anju said she had been working towards a firm deadline because she wanted the book to coincide with Bedi’s 80th birth anniversary.
“Some of them sent in their write-ups immediately; some took a little time,” she added.
Anju has written the foreword as well as a chapter on her husband.
“Besides, some players from all over the world, a few film stars, those who knew Bishan, and close friends have contributed to the book,” she said.
Among the international cricketers who have contributed are brothers Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell, former England captain Mike Brearley, retired West Indian fast-bowling great Michael Holding, former New Zealand captain Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, Madan Lal and Murali Karthik, among others. Bedi played with or against almost all of them.
One of Bedi’s close friends, however, will be missing from the launch: his former Northern Punjab teammate Akash Lal, who died last month aged 85.
“Bishan was a very nafees [fine] man, a good man; but a highly misunderstood man, let me put it that way,” Lal had told Patriot earlier.
India-Pakistan friendship
Bedi and former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammed shared a close friendship and played together for Northamptonshire for six years.
“Mushtaq Mohammed has written a nice piece. Both spent a lot of time together. Bishan had a tremendous time with Mushtaq,” Anju said.
Mushtaq, recalling their association in an earlier interview, had said Bedi helped shape him as a bowler.
“I learned a lot from him. He made me into a bowler which I wasn’t before. We had so much love for each other, and our families became very close to each other,” he said.
“He was a humorous man. He loved his cricket. He was a tremendous bowler.”
Mushtaq, who now lives in England, also recalled Bedi’s contribution to Northamptonshire and the closeness between their families.
“He played for six years for Northamptonshire [1972 to 1977] and got over 500 wickets for them. So, his contribution to Northamptonshire and to English cricket is tremendous,” he said.
“My association with Bishan is more than the cricket we played together, because we are the two families who used to live together day and night. It’s very sad to lose him.”
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Bedi was also friends with Sir Garry Sobers and former England captain Tony Lewis, both of whom Anju had considered for the book.
Anju said Sobers had been too old to communicate before his death in July aged 89, while Lewis is unwell.
“So, I couldn’t contact Tony Lewis. Although there’s an old article of his on Bishan, I didn’t want to use that because people have already read it,” she said.
“Everyone has a lifetime. I approached only those people whom Bishan had deep love for. He was very, very friendly with Michael Holding.”
Bollywood connections
Bedi’s family also has close links with the film industry through Angad and his wife Dhupia, a connection reflected in the book’s list of contributors.
Among them are Amitabh Bachchan, the legend with whom Angad has acted in films; renowned actor Sharmila Tagore, wife of late former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi; and famous screenwriter Salim Khan.
Angad, who tried his hand at cricket before moving into films, said his contribution focuses on his relationship with his father rather than Bedi’s cricketing career.
“My piece is about my personal relationship with dad. It is more from a son’s perspective,” Angad told Patriot while shooting for a film.
“The whole world, so to say, has discussed cricket with him. That’s why I wanted to have a different angle altogether.”
Four-decade partnership
Anju, who comes from a well-known family in Kanpur, married Bedi in November 1979. The couple were together for nearly 44 years before the former Delhi captain died in October 2023.
Also Read: Bishan Singh Bedi: The man who helped Delhi cricket stand on its feet
They spent much of those four decades at Bedi’s sprawling farmhouse in Delhi, ‘Cricket Abode’, which is also home to peacocks, several dogs and other pets.
Anju is now waiting to see how the commemorative volume is received.
“We’ll come to know how it comes around when they release it. Those who have worked on it are very excited. Let us see,” she said.
