Photographs

Administrators of IIT Madras and chief guest at the Third Inter-IIT Sports Meet, 1964

Sports Facilities , Sports , Institute Events

This was the first time that the Inter-IIT Sports Meet was held at IIT Madras. The chief guest Mansoor Ali Khan also inaugurated the stadium at the start of the meet.

In the Seventh Annual Number of IIT Madras (1965-1966), R. Natarajan wrote an article titled ‘The Royal Tiger from Pataudi’, in which he praises Mansoor Ali Khan’s captaincy, “There is something that has always stood out about Pataudi. As captain, he brought a fresh and uninhibited approach to the game and took the slightest gamble, if only to infuse some spirit and the dash of a derring-do to the languishing game of today.” Regarding Mansoor’s fielding, Natarajan described it thus; “With the silken sinuousness of a tiger, he used to pounce on every ball with precision.” Natarajan lauded Mansoor’s batting, which to the former, was his strength. Calling him a “Colossus”, he describes Mansoor’s batting, “His strokes are propelled as if from a high powered rocket; the noise is thunderous and one gets the impression that the Son of Jupiter is on the field.” Mr. R. Natarajan, in his interview with Prof. Ajit Kolar, recalls how Mansoor Ali Khan was a “good friend” of Natarajan. He had invited Mansoor to the meet as the chief guest. Natarajan states that Mansoor had requested that they watch a Hollywood film during his visit to IIT Madras, and they did just that.

Seen in the image from the right is Mr. R. Natarajan (Registrar) and Prof. B. Sengupto (Director). Seen to the far left of the image is chief guest, Mansoor Ali Khan.