Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi dies at 77

New Delhi: Former India captain and country's greatest ever left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi died on Monday after prolonged illness.

He was 77 years old and is survived by his wife Anju, son Angad and daughter Neha.

Born in Amritsar in 1946, Bedi played 67 Tests for India and took 266 wickets with 14 five wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul.

He was the part of Indian cricket's golden quartet of spinners, others being Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chadrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, who formed the core of India's bowling unit for more than a decade between 1966 and 1978.

Bedi was briefly the manager of the Indian cricket team in 1990 during tours of New Zealand and England.

He was also a national selector and mentor to many talented spinners like Maninder Singh and Murali Kartik, who all swore by his technical insight.