Bishan Singh Bedi passes away at 77

Bishan Singh Bedi, former India captain and one of the greatest left-arm spinners, died on Monday at the age of 77 after battling prolonged illness.

Bedi is survived by his wife Anju, son Angad and daughter Neha.

"He breathed his last at his home this morning. He recently underwent a knee operation. The infection spread and he could not recover from that," said one of his close friends.

Born in Amritsar in 1946, Bedi played 67 Tests for India and took 266 wickets with 14 five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul.

He was the part of Indian cricket's golden quartet of spinners that also had Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chadrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. They formed the core of India's bowling unit for more than a decade between 1966 and 1978.

Bedi was briefly the manager of the Indian cricket team in 1990 during tours of New Zealand and England.

He was also a national selector and mentor to many talented spinners like Maninder Singh and Murali Kartik, who all swore by his technical insight.

Bedi was one of the most admired Indian captains and he led the team for nearly four years in Test cricket between 1975 and 1979 after Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi's retirement.

Throughout his life, he remaind anti-establishment and his views often ruffled feathers of those in power.

He was the longest serving Delhi Ranji team captain from 1974to 1982 and under him the team became a force to reckon with national cricket circuit.