Mansoor Ali Pataudi, popularly called Tiger Pataudi is remembered as one of the finest cricketers we had. He was a former captain of the Indian cricket team. It was only obvious that he would have wanted one of his children to take his legacy forward in some way. Tiger Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore tied the knot in 1968 against all odds. Theirs was an interfaith marriage which was opposed by many. But they were happily married and had three children – Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Saba Ali Pataudi. In a recent interview, Soha revealed that when she was born, before it was revealed that it’s a girl, for a fraction of seconds, her father wished he would have a ‘fast-bowler’ son. She said during a chat with ‘Her circle’, as shared in a video by their Instagram handle, “”When I as born, before they discovered I was a girl. In a fraction of a second, I think my father was saying, ‘we’ll make him a fast bowler.’ And then he said, ‘it’s a girl’. So, he said, ‘oh okay’.”
When asked further why she did not become a cricketer, Soha said, “In those days, being a female cricketer was not one of the options, you can consider. Today it’s different. But when I was born, Women’s cricket was not even a thing.”However, she added quickly, “But I’m a very good sportsperson and I’m very good at racquet sports and I’m always looking for people to play badminton well.”In another interview with Hauterrfly, Soha spoke about how Tiger Pataudi was a stay-at-home dad after his retirement while her mother was the bread-winner of the family. She had said, “He was a legendary cricketer, even lost an eye playing, he contributed a lot to this country, put it on the map.” Talking about being at home with no work, Soha revealed her father used to joke. “He used to tell everybody he was a prince,” she said.
