The original Krrish

For some reason, I started thinking about Krishnamachari Srikkanth and his unique style of play.

For those of us who grew up watching cricket on black-and-white TV's in the Eighties, Srikkanth and Kapil Dev were demi-gods whose sole purpose in life was to despatch everything bowled at them, to the boundary. Srikkanth especially, was the maverick, the bad-cop who doesnt go by the rule-book, but still saves the day. ( It was immaterial to our pre-adolescent minds that he usually threw away his wicket, and wasnt around till the end. )

There was a certain aura around his whole persona, with his wierd crouching stance, the trademark twitch of the nose and walk towards square-leg between deliveries ( which some attribute to his chain-smoking ), and the way he wielded his willow - sometimes like a helicopter blade, sometimes like a mace, sending deliveries in unexpected directions and totally frustrating the bowlers.

Some incidents in his career that I remember vividly are,

- Krish going down on one knee to square-drive some of the fastest bowlers of the era, Andy Roberts, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram.

- Krish deciding to try his hand at the reverse sweep, and instead reverse-pulling Dipak Patel to the point boundary. This was in the 1987 World Cup match against NZ, which India won in 32 overs, chasing 240 odd runs.

- Krish hitting Curtly Ambrose for a six over long on in the Adelaide Oval ( which has a straight boundary of over 90 yards ), and then promptly getting bowled off the next ball, which was a No-Ball.

- Krish performing a flick on the leg side while his whole body is air-borne and above the ball !

- Krish scoring 123 runs in a 40 over match. To put this in perspective, it was common to see opening batsmen bat out the 50 overs without reaching three figures. ( Incidentally, India lost that match to Pakistan, who scored 38 runs in the last two overs, thanks to Salim Malik )

Despite his unorthodox methods, it has to be admitted that Krish was a complete entertainer, in the M.S.Dhoni mould. And one cannot take away from him, the fact that he is the only Indian captain to tour Pakistan without losing a single Test match. India drew all four Tests on the 1989-90 tour of Pakistan, and this achievement is even more creditable as there were as many as 5 debutants on the tour, including one 16-year-old named Sachin Tendulkar. Those who played in the team during that tour have credited him with astute cricketing acumen. It is a pity that his career had to end on a sudden note, when had an extended lean phase and couldnt break out of it. They say that those who live by the sword die by it, and there are some experts who maintain that this holds true for any batsman who relies on his eye rather than his technique. Viv Richards and Sourav Ganguly are similar cases.