Saif Ali Khan has a rich family history with cricket |Courtesy - ICC/AP
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Saif Ali Khan is among India's finest actors
- Saif's family has a strong history in cricket
- Saif owns a cricket team in a popular league
India woke up to shocking news on Tuesday (January 16) after it emerged that Bollywood superstar Saif Ali Khan was attacked and stabbed by a knife in the early hours of the day. The 54-year-old was rushed to the hospital and underwent immediate surgery to remove the knife and repair the leaking spinal fluid.
For those unversed, Saif was attacked at his own home in the posh Bandra area of Mumbai after an intruder entered his residence during what was a reported burglary attempt. Doctors who operated on the veteran actor at the Lilavati Hospital confirmed that Saif is stable and out of danger.
Saif Ali Khan's Rich Cricket Connection
Saif belongs to the royal Pataudi family (nawabs of the former state of Pataudi) and is the current head. His family is among the most popular in the Indian film industry but also has huge connections in the cricket fraternity from the pre-independence era of the sport in the country.
Both Saif's grandfather and father led India in Test cricket. Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi played six Tests for India, including their first-ever match in 1932. His last match for the national team was in 1946. Iftikhar led the country in three matches in 1946 but failed to register a win. Overall, he played 6 Test matches and scored 199 runs with one century and a half-century.
Saif's father, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, is among the finest captains in Indian cricket history and one of the best batters of his team, despite a freak eye injury. He played 46 Tests for India and scored 2793 runs at an average of 34.91 with six centuries. He captained India in 40 matches, which is the fifth-most in history after Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli. Pataudi won nine matches as Indian captain while leading the team to 12 draws. Under his captaincy, India registered their first-ever Test match and Test series win in New Zealand (1968).
Aged 21 years and 77 days, he held the record of being the youngest Test captain for 42 years. Only Rashid Khan and Tatenda Taibu have captained their country in a Test match at a younger age. After Mansoor, Sachin (23 years, 169 days) is the second youngest Indian to lead the national team in the longest format of the game.
Mansoor married legendary Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore. Saif is the eldest of their three children. They had two daughters (Saba and Soha Ali Khan).
Saif's cousin Saad Bin Jung played first-class cricket for Hyderabad and Harayana. Meanwhile, his uncle Shahryar Khan was the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on multiple occasions. He was the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2016.
Saif and his wife, Kareena Kapoor, also purchased the Tigers of Kolkata team in the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL), which won the title in the inaugural season last year.
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