Pataudi Jr., as Mansoor came to be known during his cricket career, was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler. He was a schoolboy batting prodigy at Winchester, relying on his keen eyes to punish the bowling. He captained the school team in 1959, scoring 1,068 runs that season, beating the school record set in 1919 by
Douglas Jardine. He also won the public schools rackets championship, with partner Christopher Snell. On 1 July 1961, he was a passenger in a car, driven by team mate
Robin Waters, which was involved in an accident in
Hove. A shard of glass from the broken windscreen penetrated and permanently damaged his right eye. A surgeon named Dr. David St Clair Roberts was called to operate on his eye, and was praised by Pataudi for saving one of his eyes. The damage caused Pataudi to see a doubled image, and it was feared this would end his cricketing career, but Pataudi was soon in the nets, learning to play with one eye. Despite his eye injury less than 6 months before, he made his Test debut playing against
England in
Delhi in December 1961. He was appointed vice-captain for the tour to the West Indies in 1962. In March 1962, Mansoor became captain of the Indian cricket team after the sitting captain,
Nari Contractor, was ruled out of the Fourth Test in
Barbados due to an injury sustained by Contractor batting against
Charlie Griffith in a tour match against
Barbados. He played in 46
Test matches for India between 1961 and 1975, scoring 2,793 runs at a Test batting average of 34.91, including 6 Test centuries. His victories included India's first ever Test match win overseas against New Zealand in 1968. India went on to win that series, making it India's first ever Test series win overseas. He captained Sussex in 1966. In India, he played first-class cricket for Delhi in the
North Zone until 1966, and then for Hyderabad in the
South Zone. He was an
Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1962, and a
Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1968. He published an autobiography, ''Tiger's Tale'', in 1969. He was the manager of the India team in 1974–5, and referee for two Ashes Tests in 1993. He was later a member of the council of the
Indian Premier League. In 2007, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of India's Test debut, the
Marylebone Cricket Club has commissioned a trophy for Test match series between India and England which was named the Pataudi Trophy in honour of his father, the 8th Nawab. Pataudi holds the record for facing the most balls in a single test match when batting at number six position in Test history (554). == Political career ==