Jeffrey Archer immortalised his nearly 50-year friendship with Tiger Pataudi in the short story The Century.
IMAGE: Jeffrey Archer poses for a photograph in his flat in London, May 5, 2011. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters
Key Points
- Jeffrey Archer’s short story The Century was inspired by legendary cricketer Mansur Ali Khan ‘Tiger’ Pataudi, whom he met at Oxford university.
- Archer admired Tiger’s character, portraying him as a gracious loser and generous winner, embodying old-fashioned amateur sportsmanship.
- Tiger’s resilience after a 1961 car accident, which left him visually impaired but still able to return to international cricket, deeply fascinated Archer.
The short story The Century in Jeffrey Archer’s 1980 collection A Quiver Full of Arrows was inspired by the legendary cricketer Mansur Ali Khan ‘Tiger’ Pataudi.
IMAGE: Mansur Ali Khan ‘Tiger’ Pataudi in action for Oxford against Surrey at the Oval in June 1961. Photograph: Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Getty Images/Rediff Archives
Jeffrey Archer and Tiger Pataudi first met during their student days at Oxford university through common friends and maintained a close friendship that lasted nearly 50 years.
Archer based the central character of The Century — a tale reflecting the Oxford-Cambridge cricket rivalry — on the young Pataudi, drawing on Tiger’s college accomplishments and his illustrious father, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi.
Rather than just focusing on cricket statistics, Archer sketched Tiger’s character as a gracious loser and generous winner, admiring him as an embodiment of old-fashioned amateur sportsmanship.
IMAGE: Soha Ali Khan shared a picture of the Pataudi family with Jeffrey Archer. Photograph: Kind courtesy Soha Ali Khan/Instagram
Pataudi’s Resilience And Enduring Friendship
Archer remained deeply fascinated by Tiger’s resilience after a 1961 car accident left him impaired in one eye yet able to return to international cricket.
Following Tiger’s death in 2011, Archer wrote movingly about him and later acted as the chief auctioneer for a Pataudi family charity event raising funds for the Venu Eye Institute.
Family’s Acknowledgment Of A Special Bond
The enduring bond resurfaced in public memory when Tiger’s younger daughter, actress Soha Ali Khan, shared emotional tributes recalling her father and Archer’s Oxford friendship after the writer passed away last week.
“Jeffery Archer was in Oxford at the same time as my father,” actor Saif Ali Khan, Tiger’s eldest child tells Subhash K Jha, “and Archer wrote about him in a short story in the collection A Quiver Full Of Arrows.”
“He had a lot of respect for Tiger and often spoke highly of him.”
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff
Photograph curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff