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There has been no dearth of talented cricketers in the state. The earliest Test players of the state, M J Gopalan and C Ramaswami, forty when he made his Test debut, a successful one at that, were both double internationals, the former in cricket and hockey and the latter in cricket and tennis. From the time Gopalan and Ramaswami represented the country back in the thirties, there have been quite a few Test cricketers who have made the state proud, though few of them have had extended innings on the world stage. Off spinner S Venkataraghavan, who led India in two World Cups, earned the praise of the top cricketers of the day as a world class spinner, and came to be known as part of a spin quartet, Prasanna, Bedi and Chandrasekhar being the other three. He was the vice captain of two successful Indian teams skippered by Ajit Wadekar, which for the first time in the history of Indian cricket, beat West Indies in the West Indies and England in England in 1971. In both series, he played a substantial part as a bowler in India's triumphs. Today, he is known as one of the world's best umpires, associating himself with the game after his playing days in a variety of roles, as selector, administrator, Test match referee, and occasional commentator.
After these two, India's current opening batsman, the lefthanded Sadagopan Ramesh, is the only other Tamil Nadu player to have enjoyed an extended tenure at the highest level, though another lefthander, Woorkheri Venkata Raman, created some kind of a record with the number of Test and one-day international matches in which he occupied the reserve benches. Such treatment did little justice to this former Tamil Nadu captain's considerable talent. Few batsmen have dominated domestic cricket to the extent he did during the eighties and nineties, with one triple hundred and four double hundreds in his first class career. There were those cricketers of the amateur era, like S V T Chari, M O Srinivasan, T V Parthasarathi, B C Alva, and M Suryanarayan, who appeared for India in unofficial Tests, and others like C D Gopinath, V V Kumar and A G Milkha Singh, who got too few opportunities, to show the world their mettle, and at least one truly great son of Tamil Nadu, A G Ram Singh,
In recent years, some exceptional cricketers from the state have made the grade but have not consolidated their places. S Sriram, T Kumaran and Hemang Badani belong to this category. While Kumaran may be said to have missed the bus, the other two could still force their way back into the team, especially, Badani, who was expected by one and all to succeed at the Test level, but now has a question mark against his temperament…. Until next week, with more chapters from The Mosquitos and Other Jolly Rovers by V Ramnarayan. Published by Kalamkriya Ltd and distributed by EastWest Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd, the book is priced at Rs 295. Kalamkriya, 9, Cathedral Road,
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Copyright
2008, Chennai Interactive
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Tamil Nadu cricket is an enigma in a riddle wrapped in a mystery. How many teams as talented have fared worse in the Ranji Trophy, the national championship? You would have to look very hard to find a side that meets that description. Of individual brilliance, there rarely has been a serious shortage in the history of the state's cricket. It is in team effort that it has failed to combine productively, though it must be said there has been marked improvement in this respect in recent years. In the 1999-2000 season for instance, success at the finishing post eluded Tamil Nadu ever so narrowly, a magnificent double century by a tiny man called S R Tendulkar thwarting them by a margin of fifteen runs in the semifinals. Yet, two title triumphs in 66 years of Ranji Trophy cricket is poor return for the tremendous investment in time, money and loving encouragement made by the committed supporters of the game in the state ever since the Indian Cricket Federation was founded in 1930 to take on the might of the "European" cricketers of Madras--read Madras Cricket Club, the pioneering institution that nurtured the game from its infancy in the Presidency.
K
Srikkanth, another India captain, who led India in a drawn series in Pakistan, in itself regarded by some as a considerable achievement, was a member of the 1983 Prudential World Cup champion team led by Kapil Dev Nikhanj. He played a decisive role in the memorable final at Lord's in which India upstaged the mighty West Indies led by Lloyd. The Tamil Nadu batsman who redefined opening batting with his dashing, aggressive approach that defied convention, was also one half of a successful opening partnership with Ravi Shastri that propelled Sunil Gavaskar's team to an unexpected but thoroughly deserved victory in the World Championship of Cricket in Australia soon after the Word Cup triumph. 
who was never chosen to play for India except in an unofficial Test against Jack Ryder's Australian XI despite his enormous talent and outstanding achievements. In the fifties, N Kannayiram toured with the Indian team without playing a Test. There were others of a later era, like Bharat Reddy, T E Srinivasan, T A Sekar, B Arun, M Venkataramana, V B Chandrasekhar, Aashish Kapoor, and Robin Singh, all of whom got limited opportunities, though the last named has played more than a hundred one-day internationals, leaving an unmistakable stamp on the game.
