The Game thats helped us Grow with it!!

Karthik Ramasubramanian: Born on the 25th of June 1983, the day when Kapil Dev lifted the Prudential World Cup after beating the then mighty West Indians, Cricket has just been in my blood. My father had officiated as an umpire for district matches in the 1970's in Triplicane. Hence it was no surprise that i started playing the game too, since my childhood. However, it was in my 6th grade in school, when i took it seriously and joined a coaching club at school level. Ever since, i have played the game with my heart filled happiness and a passion thats next to nothing. I will have to rue the fact that, i have not lived up to my credentials, for i should have took myself to the state level (The least). I went through the selection programs for the District level Under 13's, 16's and played a good number of matches for my Club at the Division Leagues for the same. -Memories of my Chittappa getting me a new pair of Slazenger Gloves for Rs.600/- (A costly one indeed) and his encouragement, but for which i could not have tasted League cricket even. -He also tried to Board me with Cricket as a profession, through one of his friends in the UK, who was playing county cricket at that time. Residential Cricketing Schools were his aims for me. -I was into 6th grade in school and just could not even think of a life without my parents and family. Flying went away, the oppurtunity!!! - (Still feel sorry for i thrashed his hopes on me) The real fun and worth was yet to come in my cricketing life though and so it came Big Time during my Higher Secondary in School. We (my childhood neighbours and myself), formed an ideal bunch to be together, playing!!!
Year 1999 (My 11th grade in Ahobila Math School): On a leisurely evening, Two of my neighbours Anand and Anban bought a new ball and Anban with his BDM Club master bat in his hand came to my home and asked if v can play. We picked my elder brother Harish, Anand's younger brother Suresh, Ramu (Jayawardene), Ram Prasad (Suresh's class mate and the best mate of his) and Prasanna (Neighbour)... We went to the ground just in front of our street (The then Picturesque Green park) and played for the first ever time together. By then, without even realising it, we were into the strongest and bonding entity of all that we have ever had and been into till now.... It was a blessing that Harish, Anban & Anand were just done with their Graduation that year and Vacation time just before a fresh curriculum year for Suresh, Ramu, Ramprasad & Myself. So, we had just about everything going for us to play everyday 2 sessions without a day break. Great Fun!!! As a couple of weeks passed after the schools started, I had my class mate and a dear friend of mine ever since, Sundar to join our game as well. He along with his elder brother Ganesh made it every time we played. Infact, it was sundar & ganesh who used to wake us all up by 5.30 in the morning at our homes for play. Then came a small, very lovely looking boy Bommai (Anand), who was studying in 7th grade if my memory says right. And so, in a couple of months after starting it, we had a good handful of cricketers. Everything else is history where we all just had cricket in our minds and nothing else, morning and evening. If i have to be even more specific, the team composition did not change for any session of play.

It used to be like :

Team 1: Anban, Harish, Suresh, Ramprasad & Ramu.

Team 2: Anand, Prasanna, Sundar, Myself & Bommai.
Highlights :-
Upstairs cricket with tennis ball, where we emulated test match cricket to the nearest perfection.
The tensions evident in the way we fight to save test matches.
The caught-behind rule brought into our cricket by Harish.
Cricket played at the house opposite to ours, where we play over arms cricket at a good level of discipline.
And where Bommai almost drowned into the well in the playing area, but for my heroics, where i caught hold of him, before he went out of reaching depth.
Best Learning Curve:-
Cricket played upstairs using a "TAK-A-TAK" ball.
That is when we had to concentrate on techniques and analysis.
Having a gully fielder to make the game completely bowler friendly, which is not usual.
Amount of concentration raised due to that and it started showing results in the way we played cricket at the ground, where we mixed caution with aggression more and play the ball to its merit qualities evident in it.

Here comes the Crux of my Blog, where i would like to testify each one in our team with Cricketing and personal parameters (without prejudice), starting from the initial ones: -


Starting with Anand :- Very jovial and always ensuring that, the play is filled with enjoyment and fun. Pulling others legs all the time, still maintaining a great sense of sporting consciousness to perform at his swift best every time. My best friend till now, when it comes to sports and our association with it. Elder to me by 5 years, but not an instance when i have felt it. We have had a great frequency to say the least, when it comes to sports and play sessions, no matter what is the sport (Even indoor games). Just behind my house, we had a building where some 6-8 working batchelors stayed together and had cleaned up the front of the house for Badminton. Anand and i joined them literally every time they played and we both were and are still, such sports enthusiasts that in no time, we became the pivotal part of their badminton group. We have been great ever since. And this just was to continue in cricket, where Anand & I invariably have been in the same team till now, even. opening the innings most of the times, we had this habit of playing out the full quota of 8 overs almost 8/10 times. Very prolific energytic scorer was he that, keeping in mind that we had played out the full 8 overs ourselves, i would have had hardly 18 balls in total for my strike. The team score will end up to be around 40 with Anand having scored at least 27-30 runs of it. he has a tremoundous sense of running between the wickets, where u can just rely on his calls and run without worrying on where the ball is actually. He judges runs nearest to perfect. A very safe fielder who most of the times stands close in with good reflexes, but with a week throwing arm. In the recent years, he has taken up Leg spin as his type to roll his arms over and i should accept, he does fair enough to get a couple of wickets per every 3 overs he bowls. He leaks runs a plenty at times, but thats more often than not is the cause of his humour, where he loses control over his game.

Next is Anban :- He has this trick of always keeping the guys around him Laughing all the time literally. A sheer gift of his, very natural to him to be happy and keep others happy as well. Known always for his big hitting ( wild old swing of his bat in the straights), he had a great sense of split behaviour with him, where u always see him enjoying himself laughing around having some reason all the time to smile. But, he will always be in the frame of the game, where he stands at short covers position all the time and direct his team members with actions from their side. Another one of those in our team with a safe pair of hands. he resembles Ranatunga, physically and within cricketing factors as well. A great character whom we have missed in the recent years.

My elder Brother Harish :- A very shy but a pensive cricketer with thoughts filled all the time when on the field. You will hardly see him even smile around on a cricketing field. A very thinking cricketer, with great insight knowledge about the game. Very accurate and swift are his deliveries hitting a good line almost all the time. Never blessed with agility on the field, he more than makes it up with his leadership qualities on the field and one of the safest pair of hands preferring always to stand on the boundary lines. Hardly have we seen him drop catches. A very safe fielder. He is one of our most reliable batsmen with a great sense of consistency, where we have never seen him fail for more than a couple of innings at stretch. Puts up his mind to stay and play an axis innings around which everyone else build theirs. He resembles me a lot of Chanderpaul, who just has this uncanny knack of flicking the balls effortlessly from even outside the off stump for enormous amounts of runs. The other striking resemblance with Chanderpaul is in the way, he suddenly plays an innings of clean aggression with some amazing range where he opens himself square and heaves it over covers or even square covers for boundaries and big hits...

Prasanna :- Another usually calm person on the field with a good commitment when it comes specially to his bowling. He simply seems to be loving his bowling a lot. He puts in a lot of effort to pace up and surprise the batsmen. He has been known for his straight hitting. Very powerful player. His drives take over the fielders at Mid-on and Mid-off. He hits them with such power. He wants to perform heavily with a clear cut intent to work on it. He is a fierce cutter and a puller, with a natural initial movement backwards, that helps him play them with ease.


Suresh :- My first friend in life. But we have hardly played together in the same team to be actually playing with any sort of a co-ordination. But when we play teams from outside, we both are the ones who open the bowling, where he puts a strangle hold on the scoring with accuracy and speed mixed with aggression. However, runs go easily off my bowling at the other ends cause of which, we have not performed as well as we could have when it comes to playing neutral teams. He has been the only bowler in our team who restricts opponent teams. We are used to Chucking type Bowling, so barring Suresh, none of us bowl regular bowling properly. He somehow picks himself up and performs to a gritty level when his team had lost their earlier match. He bats for long staying there and keeping his wicket in hold. He is the first person in our team, who specialized the art of bowling the final couple of overs with pace and aggression to take wickets in loads.


Ram Prasad :-
Here is one guy, who seems to set little little targets and destination for himself and achieves them invariably often. A wonderfully gifted sense of patience and a will to learn more and a hunger for perfection is what will define Ramprasad in a Nutshell. Be it cricket or his life, he sets targets, achieves it and at times backs himself against many odds to make them a reality.

There cant be many in our team or anyone playing cricket around, who can put their hands up and claim, they haven't been hit around the park even once convincingly by a batsman. But, Ramprasad is one who is an enormous exception. I have seen enough of his cricket to judge him as the most intelligent bowler, i have known or faced (I have been foxed many a times too). Thats the quality of his. He wants to be ahead of any other and every other.

Concentrates heavily on techniques and performs to a near perfection on analysis. I just cant forget the number of times we both have spent hours spinning twine on the bat handles and the amount of analysis done on batting techniques, carrying buckets of clay to prepare a pitch at our backyard. We both have a common hero in Rahul Dravid and so understand each other's game pretty well. However, the flip side of it is that, we have never managed to string a material winning partnership even once.

Sundar:-
Being class mates at higher secondary level, we have known each other pretty in-depth. He speaks his mind and thats what he is. Personally, we have seen him grow on all fronts in the last decade, from a boy, who was working early morning hours to supply paper and milk to every home to a guy who owns a flat in chennai today.

Batting is his strength, with a great bat speed and drives on the shots through the off side. Cut and the cover drive are his sheer specials. He drives the ball so very powerfully with timing that, he manahes to get boundaries of shots hit all along the ground in tennis ball cricket, which is a treat.

A very special fielder indeed with great agility and lovely hands. he has lost a bit of his speed on the field, however he remains one of the safest fielders. There was a time when he used to hit the stumps direct at least 8 out of ten times. He has lost his pace and the aggression in his bowling over the years where he operates well within himself.
Ganesh (Sundar's elder brother):-

A very naturally fit, flexible, agile sports person with a cloud of calm around him all the time. We have never seen him raise his voice.

A Supremely fit fielder, who used his agility to great perfection. Portrays basic essential qualities to stick around with his partners in batting. Known for his swift running between wickets and throwing the stumps down direct from short distances were his trademark.


Bommai (Anand) :-

He joined our cricket initially because, Anand (elder one) liked him as a cute doll look alike sweet boy. But he amazed us with the way he showed maturity and talent in the game, beyond his age.

He had this great quality of playing straight and presenting a full face of the bat, when facing Suresh & others' pace really. He puts a price on his wicket and tries not to give his wicket away. Many a times, he has to come in last in the order and he sticks around with the senior partners for premium runs and time.

A very very safe outfielder with great hands speed to the throws of his. He competes with others, no matter how elder they are, with good cricketing skills.

Ramu :-
Here is a very special member in our team, to say the least. Ask, almost everyone will have to say something about him. A spoken about person in the team.

Ramu has been a cricketer who promises to be a much more high profiled than how he has actually turned out to be. You look at him play at our upstairs and at times when we are just practising on the roads, he is simply superb with his crisp hitting, timing, strokes. But for long, when it comes to cricket on the grounds, he has not lived upto what he can. He has remained on the shadows of others for long.

Now, in the last couple of years though, he has put a claim for himself and i can definitely say, he has been one of the most prolific run getters in our cricket with a strangely high proportions of boundaries and SIXES!!!!!! Earlier, one looks at him, they would feel, he is trying a little too much every ball, with extravagant foot movements before the ball reaches him, where he shuts down a major array of scoring options restricting himself. But these days, he seems to be allowing his instincts to bat for him, where he hits the ball if its there to be hit even be the first delivery. I can safely claim that he has realised his forte. He bowls pretty brisk paced hitting the deck bowling these days, which have also been successful to him.

Specially, we both play exceptionally well together. That is something which i will cherish. For the records, we opened the innings in a 12 over game and played out the full quota without getting out scoring a mammoth 102/0 in all. I just cant remember the number of times, we both have scripted healthy partnerships very often.


Pradeep:- Probably, the best behaved cricketer in our team who lives well within himself without any hard found reactions to anything happening around him. An extremely perfect cricketer, who is equi talented in Bowling and batting with a great consistency in both.

He is one of the most reliable batsman in our team, with powers of concentration to occupy the crease for long without much fuss crafting a workman like innings with huge proportions of singles. He is so good at flicking anything close to middle and leg stump. And flicks powerfully all along the ground for boundaries many a time.

Very safe pair of hands with a sense of good reflexes on the field. But a tortoise like mover. He competes very hard on all fronts with a sign of calmness around all that he does. Bowling, though is his trademark and his best strength, where he looks to build pressure by bowling one side of the wicket. Those brisk leg cutters are his trademark. He is a very consistent and a prolific wicket taker in our team.



Shankar :- My favorite cricketer!!!! I just love the way he plays the game and his agility and commitment assisted by his long and swift legs, with a supreme ability to field exceptionally well. Great pair of hands with the strongest and the most accurate throwing arms in our team. I am very happy for he is playing division cricket in the UK. I should state that, it was only after he started playing with us that, he took the game seriously.

Also the fastest and one of the hard bowlers to face, with his accuracy adding to the woes. He is a typical hard fast bowler standing 6'2 inches tall and the ball getting released from 7 feet above the ground. When his batting is in talk, he will come across as a very striving, wanting to improve batsman with a good array of strokes. He is one of the best strikers of the tennis ball hitting HUGE sixes.

But, its when we both along with Sundar played in the Blue Star league, that i saw him really grow as a cricketer. He was very raw till then. Cant forget the days Shankar & I used to make Sundar our Bunny, terming him as Gilchrist and making fun of his Wicket keeping and his habit of getting beaten outside his off stump. Great days!!. All in All, a tremendous cricketer (Nothing biased about him, but just my favourite).



Karthi (Sehwag) :- Known as Sehwag for the bat speed he generates and the strokes he pretends to be playing... Just kidding. A very friendly human who has been primarily instrumental for us to keep our cricket alive till now. He initiates actions, takes efforts to pull people into it. However gets tired of waking up people many a time (specially with Ramu & Anand). Frequently says, "i am not going to come this early from next week to stand in front of houses, just to watch others delaying". But, we wont react much because, we know he will be the first next week as well. Very punctual.

He hits the ball, the farthest. No doubt. Some of his hits gets the whole group to stand still. Brilliant Hand-eye co-ordination, which enables him to hit the balls with good balance through the line of the ball and lift it with the help of such high bat speed. Many a times, he gets beaten by lack of pace (Slower ones), still manages to clear the ropes quite easily with ease.

He is our "problem finder" in the group usually, advocating that the length of the pitch is shorter by a yard or two and the ball is not good, boundaries are short,,,,,,,,. He will get something out of nowhere to claim he is right. Most of the times, he turns out to be the bunny though. ha ha ha,,,,,

He along with Anand are the ones, who keep the field in good energy with their complaints and comments!!!



Perumal :- Without a tinge of doubt, Physically the FITTEST and the most AGILE person i have ever met till now. So very a "down to earth" character that, u will hardly see him even raise his voice once.

A very gifted fielder with a real natural sense of anticipation on the field, who reaches and picks up the ball ready to be thrown in, even before you get a thought of picking an extra run out of it. Really accurate with his throws from the boundary lines, where he usually dwells. Has very good reflexes with soft hands to pick the balls at the least proportion of errors.

He is so conscious about his health that, he still does not own a 2 wheeler even. And what more, he uses his cycle to go office everyday. Another very brisk paced bowler in our team, who hits the deck hard and bowls difficult lines and lenghths cramping the batsmen for any room, at a swift pace.

Dinesh :- Now, here again is one of the enthusiasts in our group who loves to organise and lead games and groups very naturally. The passion for the game is never in short with Dinesh, for i have played with him ever since his school days. I cant forget the moment when i got hit by the swing of his bat while playing a stroke with me keeping wickets upto the stumps. I had to be rushed to a hospital for 6 stitches on my forehead. I am thankful to him for he was the one who got me into his advertisement club team (UMAK), where Shankar, Sundar & I played material amount of league cricket. I scored very consistently and also performed equivalently well with ball, opening the innings. This is the team in which, Shankar, Sundar & I enjoyed every bit of playing together. Dinesh provided us with the oppurtunity to play together. A very high voltage cricketer, who always wants to perform out of his skin, giving his all for it. Great attitude!! When on the field, he will not mind fielding at any position, even if he was tired. Ver naturally committed cricketer, with great interests to form a team anytime.

Ganesh (Bangalore):- Usually a shy, timid and a reserved character however turned talkative, moment he was with us. Ramu is the one, who is the closest to him in the whole team. He was our neighbour and was a part of the team, when we enjoyed heaps of sessions upstairs playing with the Tak-A-Tak ball. After we are done with playing the game, we speak about it for hours after it sitting on the wall. A much matured person, who often gives us factual evidence for whatever we speak. He is blessed with a special sense of memory, where he remembers events by co-relating them to odd happenings. For instance, if u ask on which date does ramu's b'day falls, he will first tell us that it is on the day when he bought some engineering books and so it should be 4th of june, and so on... Works hard with efforts on his batting and plays sensibly. Never a gifted cricketer, he finds a way to keep himself going and it shows his mental strength. No matter what happens, will not turn up for play even before a week of examinations.


Sriraam Alevoor:- The only left armer in our team that we have had. By far Our best bowler ever, for his consistency in pace, accuracy and uncomfortable lines and lengths for batsmen. He is always there and there-about with his line and length with brilliant change-ups.

Achieved success to get selected for the state cricket team during our school days. A very sincere and passionate cricketer, and is a very versatile cricketer, opening the innings batting left handed and bowls efficient left arm spin bowling with enormous control. A skillful allrounder indeed. And what more, he was our captain in the school team.

He somehow could not manage to be successful with the bat as he can be, for Sundar & i witnessed a 100 of his in a 15 over game. One of my best friends ever.


Ranganathan:- Here is a person, who just can come any far to play the game. Sheer interests for the game have been his plus. And the fact that, Sundar, Sriraam, Sathish & i have been best friends since higher secondary schooling helped the cause.

Cant forget our school days, when we play matches against our other class section teams, batting at No.3 & 4 respectively, Ranga & I were known as Mark and Steve Waugh. We just had a great frequency in all that we did.

Very emotional about all that he does and takes up, he puts his heart into the game when he is on the field. Emulates Mark Waugh (His childhood hero) a lot in his flicks and the late cuts. A very very very safe slip fielder in our school team with gifted pair of hands, like his idol Mark himself, has energytic reflexes close in.

He bowls at brisk pace, which at times brings his down fall where he tries too much and loses control in direction, going for lots of extras.


Satish (Wicket keeper):- Now i think of him, he reminds me a lot of Dinesh Karthik, a very energytic cricketer keeps chatting, shouting and high on decibals. Another of my school mates, who has shared a great part in all that i have done ever since.

He is a very instinctive opening batsman, who loves to play the game with heart and plays percentage shots. He loves to drive the ball a lot and does so well. He reacts to comments a little too easily and hence a very fragile high voltage cricketer on the field, never away from arguements.

He has a knack of pulling people into all that he does, very social indeed and a helpful person.

Mouthgalya (Mouth):- Mouth, as how he is known among the group, will go down as the BEST FIELDER we will ever go on to see. Such agile on his feet, covers ground very quick and almost 999/1000 times, collects the ball clean and perfect. He has an accurate rate of hitting the stumps direct. He is one, who reminds a lot of Ajay Jadeja, who might just not be attractive and orthodox, but without a doubt, absolutely effective with his play. He bats with an open mind for runs of every ball he faces and the swiftest of runners. He judges runs to inch perfection. I have admired him for the shrewd thinking he has, when it comes to his fielding and batting. His plus is this thinking, which helped him to be one of the most tough bowlers to face, for he is always a step ahead of the batsmen.

Harish (Pradeep's friend):- One of the latest members in our team, who has joined us in the last couple of years, but has been a vital part in the scheme of things ever since. He is again one another of those "Big-hitters". If i have to draw comparison of his to an international cricketer, he will best suit "Freddie Flintoff" for the bulk heavy built strong cricketer. Harish has a tremendous sight for boundaries, where he hits the ball with sheer power and with full heart into it. There are no half measures, when he hits them. He somehow prefers to stand volountarily at long-off & long-on. He does a very good job there. I also admire him for his strict adherance to public rules and policies, regulations and so on,, specially the patience at the railway gates and traffic signals. Well principled and mannered human being.

Kaushik :- Ramu's school mate, who has been a regular member in our cricket in the last couple of years again. We have met each other during his school days, and ever since i have seen a very passion able spirit for SPORTS on the whole. No matter, what the sport is, he will be a part of it. Cricket, Football, badminton,,,,,,

Primarily, a soccer lover and a wonderfully talented footballer himself, he has taken himself higher now very recently by joining a club to live his love. Naturally fit and agile, he is an athlete who brings energy and speed into our game. Gifted fielder, who skips very quickly to the ball and covers angles. Only one that he is not gifted with is his throwing arms, never the strong point of his.

A very able batsman with cheeky strokes and cautious innovation in it. But, he will accept the fact that, he can fair much better in batting than how he has done so far. One of the best runners between the wickets, he moves like a hare. He is a perfect utility cricketer, who can chip in and do all that a captain wants.

Prabhakar :- Youngest member in our team, in terms of number of years he has played with us. He has been with us for the last 1.5 years max. But one of the brightest cricketers to have been there.

An extremely fit and energytic human with a genetically blessed physique to assist him. He is a a swift mover across the field and attacks the ball with a great gift of anticipation and soft hands. One of the strongest and the most accuraate throwing arms in the game we have had.

His bowling is his plus and main strength, though he bats very efficiently with mental concentration aided by a good application to the situation. He bowls super fast and always hitting the stumps, specially with an ability to bowl 6/6 perfect yorkers in an over.

Jitu Bhai (Jithender - Ganesh's brother-in-law):- Standing tall at just over 6 feet, he is a strongly built, health concsious person who does not skip a day's workout at the gym. A very soft spoken character generally, has done modelling for few years as well. He was a part in the initial years of our cricket, with a great attitude and liking towards the game and our group. I remember him for his high quality bowling with a good pace and always pick the ball first to bowl the early overs with energy.

Chidha (Loyolite):- My class mate at the loyola college, he is a very witty happy fellow being with a good sense of humour and energy. Again one of our utility cricketers, who does a bit of everything similar to who we find in the New Zealand cricket teams. He bowls useful medium pacers, willingly opens the innings and sticks around for good periods, runs very brisk between the wickets. He was a very active energytic part of our tennis ball cricket team at the college.... We played a match almost everyday in college and he organises them efficiently. - Things and situations have changed around us through the years with almost everyone of us not been able to be a part of it fully. Career, life & personal commitments & obligations have rightly taken priority with time and age. In fact, every year we get ourselves into a situation, when we feel this is it. We are not going to keep this going any longer. The one striking best thing in our cricket is the fact that, we have lived and run this whole act with the principle "No individual is bigger than the game itself". But for the intention, we could never have taken this through for nearly 10 years now. There are other few who have been important in this group namely: 1. Raja, 2. Felix, 3. Zion (Balaji), 4. Gundu prasanna, 5. Kailash (Ramprasad's brother) - Started coming regularly now and he is the latest to our wonderful setup. 6. Karthi Anna's cousins, 7. Swami Karthik ( A very helpful down to earth guy with simplicity as his forte),
8. Mohan (My school mate- greatest fan of Sachin) The list will go on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, The very fact that, we have had such a huge number of cricketers in our team along the way, is a credit to the way we have played the game and the respect for it. There are days, when i just am unable to wake myself up and get started for the game, but i have my father getting me up in time for it. And also there have been so many instances where i have returned disappointed from others' homes unable to wake them up due to their lack of interests and tiredness. I just go dull and sad even if one week passes by, without having a session of play. I remember once when Ramprasad mentioned that "Cricket is just a part of our daily activity and never an extra activity". Thats just how we have taken it and a decade of cricket with a mutually managed team is no mean thing. And the fact that, we have never had the same bunch of cricketers playing the game at most instances. The composition for the days' play has changed very usually, much too often for our own liking, still the game has survived the change.
We have seen it as a bonding among us, that has constantly kept us all near to one another, though we have had personal obligations and commitments during the period.
Lets all take equal credits for having come this long with the game. Cheers to our game for keeping us all together!!!!! Cheers Mates!!!!!