Bedi was one of the best spinners India has produced and one of the finest left-arm bowlers of all time.

Bedi, who turns 70 today, made his Test debut against the West Indies in the 1966 Kolkata Test. With his smooth action and clever change of pace, the left-arm spinner established himself as one of the foremost slow bowlers in the world and formed a lethal spin attack alongside Bhagwat
Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan.

In all, Bedi played 67 Tests and picked up 266 wickets but it was his impact alongside other spinners that added more weight to his performances. He also captained India in 22 Tests. Bedi was a feisty cricketer and didn’t hold back in his views either. He was a strong critic of Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action and ruffled many feathers with his remarks.

More sports birthdays on this day:

1955: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, European Footballer of the Year in 1980 & 1981, now chairman of Bayern Munich (61).

1961: Ronnie Whelan, former Liverpool and Republic of Ireland midfielder (55).

1976: Chauncey Billups, the 2004 NBA Finals MVP with the Detroit Pistons (40).

1987: Monica Niculescu, Romanian tennis player who reached a career high of No. 28 (29).