The senior Nawab of Pataudi, Iftikhar Ali Khan, is the only Test cricketer to have played for both England and India. Educated at Aitchison's College, Lahore and Balliol College, Oxford, he made the England squad for the 1932-33 Bodyline series. Pataudi followed in the footsteps of Ranji and Duleep by scoring a hundred at the SCG on his Ashes debut (which was also his Test debut). However, he was dropped after the next Test, apparently because he disagreed with the tactics of Douglas Jardine, and returned home before the end of the tour. Punishing form for Worcestershire in the 1933 and 1934 English seasons earned him a recall for one Test against the visiting Australians in 1934, the last time he turned out for his adopted country.

Pataudi was appointed Indian captain several months ahead of the tour of England in 1936. The idea was that he could watch the players in the winter series against the visiting Australians led by Jack Ryder and pick the side he wanted but the advance planning came to nothing when Pataudi withdrew in February claiming he was not fully fit. It was ten years later that he finally led an Indian team to England, although it was not a very well conceived move. Pataudi, then 36, was considerably past his prime and had played little first-class cricket in the preceding years. He made close to a thousand runs on the tour and showed rare glimpses from the past, with centuries against Nottinghamshire and Sussex. But he averaged just 11 in the Tests, which India lost 1-0, and ill health forced him to retire soon after. Five years later, he died while playing a game of polo, on his son - Mansur Ali Khan's - birthday.
Sankhya Krishnan