Recalling the reaction of Saif Ali Khan when he was informed of the allegations made by a cricketer claiming that his father Mansoor Ali Khan had concealed the fact that he had a visual impairment. Saif Ali Khan recently spoke to Sportskeeda about a controversial comment made by cricketer Geoffrey Boycott about his dad. He said that Boycott had said that his dad had probably told the world that he couldn’t play Test cricket because of his vision problems.
Saif was really upset about this and said that it was “heartbreaking and shocking” to hear this from one of their favorite cricketers. “Boycott, who I really looked up to, made me really angry one day. He said, I heard about your father, it’s not possible to play Test cricket with one eye. I asked him if he thinks my father is lying, to which he replied, yes! I think he’s making it up.”
Saif further revealed in the interview that his father was both perplexed and extremely displeased when he heard Geoffrey Boycott’s comment regarding his playing techniques, and that Boycott’s initial response was perceived as somewhat patronizing. “I told my father that, and he got really annoyed. He said, ‘Well, I was bloody good with two eyes. I’m just good with one.’ That was the only arrogant remark I ever heard him make. If he didn’t want to tour, he would say he wasn’t available. He said it was a game and he was losing interest in the game in the ’60s because he thought there was too much cricket.”
The accident, while not resulting in the continuation of his distinguished career as a cricketer, had a profound effect on the life of the deceased, Mansur Ali Khan Patudi, affectionately known as “Tiger Pataudi”. The deceased cricketer reminisced about the incident in a television programme titled “Anmol Ratan”, in which he mentioned that a mere fragment of glass had caused irreparable damage to his right eye lens. In his own words:
“The accident happened in Brighton. I was playing for Oxford against Sussex. It was the August weekend where there were three holidays. Brighton is a popular tourist destination and they happened opened two new roads for dual carriages. So there was a man who was new to the place and without looking, he came on to the main road. We were about four-five of us who had gone out for dinner after the game. Three of my mates decided they would walk home, and I sat on the front seat of the car next to the driver. So then the accident happened, the windscreen broke and a piece of the glass flew straight into my eye. The lens of my eye got destroyed.”
