Mansoor Ali Khan is the 9th Nawab of Pataudi. Better known as Tiger Pataudi, he is the youngest cricketer ever to captain the Indian team having been elevated to the post at the age of 21 in 1962. He is the son of Iftikar Ali Khan Pataudi and Sajida Sultan. He studied in Dehradun at Welham Boy`s School, Lockers Park Prep School in Hertfordshire, Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford. His father died at the age of 11 and he took over the mantle of Nawab of Pataudi. He held the title of Nawab until Government of India brought an amendment in 1971.

Personal life of Mansoor Ali Khan
Mansoor married actress Sharmila Tagore, Indian actress and great-grandniece of Rabindranath Tagore, on 27 December 1969. They had three children, one son and two daughter; Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan and Saba Ali Khan. The first two are Bollywood personalities and the last one of a fashion designer.

Early life of Mansoor Ali Khan
Mansoor Ali Khan`s father died on a polo playing field while playing the game itself, on Mansoor`s 11th birthday in the year 1952. Thereafter, Mansoor succeeded as the 9th Nawab of Pataudi, the title he held till 1971.

Between 1957 and 1970, following his countrymen Ranjit Singh-ji and Duleep Singh-ji, Mansoor too, played 137 first class matches for Sussex County Cricket Club scoring 3,054 runs at an average of 22.29. He also captained Sussex for 1966 season. In India, he played first-class cricket for Delhi in the North Zone until 1966, and then for Hyderabad in the South Zone.

Cricketing career of Mansoor Ali Khan
Pataudi was a right-hand batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler and played 46 Tests for India between 1961 and 1975. Now long before this historic appointment, Pataudi had completely lost vision in his right eye in a major car accident. But despite this he went on to captain the country in 40 matches and in addition, he was also the skipper of the English county Sussex in 1966. While Patuadi`s stint as skipper was not a very fruitful one, with the team winning only 9 matches during his tenure, he does have the distinction of leading India to its first overseas victory over New Zealand in 1967. Right from his school days Mansoor had the capacity to become a great cricketer. He was a prodigy at Winchester. In spite of one damaged eye he ruthlessly punished the opposition bowling attack. In the year 1959, he captained the school team and, in that season, he scored 1068 runs for the team, in the process toppling the previous record of 1919 runs held by Douglas Jardine. Pataudi also won the racket championship in school with his partner Christopher Snell.

In August 1957, at the age of 16, Mansoor Ali Khan made his first class debut for Sussex. He also played for Oxford University in the later part of his student life. His right eye was permanently damaged on 1st July 1961, with shards of glass of windscreen which penetrated his eye. The damage was immense for Pataudi and could have easily hampered his cricketing career. But he put up a brave face and fought the entire situation and was back to playing cricket soon.

In 1961, he made his Test Match debut against England in Delhi. He found it comfortable to play with his cap pulled down over his damaged eye. In the third Test Match in Chennai, he scored 103 runs helping his team to its first ever series win against England. In the 1962 tour of West Indies he was appointed the Vice-Captain and soon thereafter in 1962 he was made the captain of 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. At the tender age of 21 years and 77 days Mansoor became the youngest captain to lead a cricket team for his country in test matches, until he was surpassed by Tatenda Taibu in May 2004. As of 2011, he remains the youngest Indian Test captain.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi represented India in 46 Test Matches between 1961 and 1975, scoring 2793 runs with a decent average of 34.91 which includes 6 centuries. Out of 46 matches he was captain in 40 of those matches where only 9 matches resulted in victory for his team, with 19 defeats and 19 draws. His most memorable victory included overseas win against New Zealand in 1968. India went on to win that series, which was the first even series win overseas. In the 1970 tour of West Indies he lost his captaincy of Indian Cricket Team and he did not play for India during a period of 1970 to 1972. However, he returned to the Indian side in 1973 and played under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar for the third Test Match against English side, and captained India against West Indies in 1974-5, but was finally dropped as a player in 1975.

Awards and Achievements for Mansoor Ali Khan
Mansoor Ali Khan was awarded the Cricketer of the Year in 1962, and a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1968. He also won the Arjuna Award in 1964 and Padma Shree in 1967. He also released his memoir, named Tiger`s Tale in 1969. He was also named the manager of the team for 1974-75 and referee for two Ashes Tests in 1993. In the later part he became a member of the governing committee for Indian Premier League as well.

Death of Mansoor Ali Khan
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi died on 22rd September 2011 at the age of 70. He was admitted to New Delhi`s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on 22 September 2011 with severe lung congestion. The congestion was caused by chronic interstitial lung disease which prevented his lungs from exchanging oxygen properly. He died of respiratory failure on 22 September 2011.