It started off as a lyrical amble across the stumps before he reached the bowling crease. And at the point of the release, almost meditating over the next note, the poet of aerial trajectory let go of the ball to spin a story.
That was a typical delivery by Bishan Singh Bedi, an orthodox left-arm spin that let the air be its slow accomplice. As cricketer Jarrod Kimber once said, “it’s as if the ball floated to tell something in whispers”. Yet this was sometimes intruded upon by an arm ball, sending a jarring show of strength almost to deceive.
