Jagged little pill

This was on the 1989-90 tour of New Zealand. We were playing a side game against Otago at Dunedin. They batted first and scored 400-odd. We were doing quite well in our reply, two-down going into lunch.

Kapil Dev was a bit under the weather and complained of a slight headache. There was no physio on that tour. Bishan Bedi was the manager and he had some assorted medication with him. When Kapil asked, Bedi very casually tossed a tablet to him. Kapil popped the pill and we finished lunch.

Just as play was about to resume, Kapil said he felt a bit giddy. I thought he was playing the fool. But when he walked into the dressing room and just crashed, it was obvious he wasn't. He slept right through the day, waking up just when it was time to leave the ground. Luckily we batted through the day [Raman and Gursharan Singh made centuries] and Kapil didn't have to come out to bat.

It turned out that Bishan had given Kapil a sleeping pill instead of something for a headache. We were fortunate it wasn't a Test match because Kapil certainly wouldn't have been able to bat. We laughed about it all tour. And of course, if anyone was ill ever again they didn't go anywhere near Bishan!