'The vacuum left by my father unfilled' - Saif

Sharmila Tagore today revealed the reason why Mansur Ali Khan, the erstwhile Nawab of Pataudi, was late for a cricket match.

"I am held back in Paris," Pataudi had told his English teammates at Sussex. Speaking tongue in cheek and with a little smile, she confessed: "I was the reason why he was held back in Paris." Sharmila was speaking at a Pataudi memorial lunch hosted by the Indian Journalists' Association (IJA) in the UK.

It is the first of several functions that are supposed to be held in England this summer to remember the life and times of Pataudi, who died last September in Delhi, aged 70. This evening the Pataudi family were due to attend a dinner organised by the MCC in the Long Room at Lord's.

Sharmila came to the IJA lunch, accompanied by her son Saif Ali Khan Pataudi and his fiance, Kareena Kapoor. Guests were impressed with Kareena.

"She looks even more beautiful than her photographs," remarked a guest. "She had no airs and graces, she did not behave like a Bollywood star, she behaved like a dignified member of the family."

An emotional Saif said: "The vacuum left by my father has not been filled — we are still not used to his absence." Also with them were Saif's sisters, Saba and Soha, who will be part of the party that will also attend events at Winchester College, where Pataudi was at school, and at Oxford, where he was an undergraduate at Balliol.

The IJA lunch was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Buckingham Gate in London where Pataudi had stayed on his final visit to London last year, Sharmila recalled.

His last duty was to present the Pataudi Trophy at the Oval to Andrew Strauss after England had won the Test series against India. Also present today was Pataudi's first cousin, Shahryar Khan, the former president of the Pakistan cricket board.

The former Pakistan cricket captain, Asif Iqbal, spoke, too, in affectionate terms about Pataudi, as did former India spinner Dilip Doshi; and Micky Stewart, former England vice-captain (and father of Alec).

The editor of Wisden, Lawrence Booth; Mike Selvey, former England cricketer and now cricket correspondent of The Guardian; David Brook, CEO of Sussex (a county which Pataudi had captained, as he had Winchester, Oxford and India); David Collier, CEO of the England and Wales Cricket Board; Lord Bilimoria; Lord and Lady Noon; Lord and Lady Hameed; Rajesh Prasad, deputy Indian High Commissioner; Charles Fry, MCC executive committee member; and Kamalesh Sharma, commonwealth Secretary General, and his wife, Babli; and the Marquess of Reading, also attended the packed dinner.

A pupil from Winchester, Ben Cunningham, now head of house at Beloe's — Pataudi had boarded There from 1954-59 — said: "He is our most famous old boy."