Controversy
As captain of India, Bedi's personality inevitably led to some controversies.
Following India's record-breaking run-chase in the 3rd Test of the 1976 series against the West Indies, the West Indies opted for an aggressive four-man fast bowler attack for the 4th Test. Bedi objected to their tactics, which he regarded as intimidatory, and declared the Indian first innings closed early after two players were forced to retire hurt. Subsequently, five players were absent hurt in the second innings of the match.
Vaseline incident - In England's tour of India in 1976–77 he accused John Lever of using Vaseline to illegally polish the ball in the Third Test at Madras. Lever wore Vaseline strips on his forehead to keep the sweat out of his eyes, but was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.
Bedi after becoming Captain had a tussle with Prasanna too and under bowled him in several Test Matches, thereby spoiling the record of Prasanna in the last leg of his career. Many cricket experts of that era openly expressed their disapproval of that.
In November 1978, he became the first captain to concede an international cricket match. In a One Day International against Pakistan at Sahiwal, India, with 8 wickets in hand, only required 23 runs from 14 balls. Bedi, however, recalled the batsmen from the crease and conceded the match in protest at the bowling of Sarfraz Nawaz who had bowled 4 bouncers in succession with not one being called wide by the umpires.
Read more about this topic: Bishan Singh Bedi
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