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The Swashbuckling Batsman

by Anshuman Kumar

By Anshuman KumarPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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The Swashbuckling Batsman
Photo by Yogendra Singh on Unsplash

I am a big fan of cricket and when I was younger in India I used to play cricket with my friends and neighbours.

Growing up I was a fan of various cricketers, including a few batsmen. My most favourite batsman back then was Kris Srikkanth. He was an opening batsman for India in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a stylish player who was very destructive. The opposition bowlers would be fearsome but Kris would dispatch their balls to boundaries with ease. He had a swagger in his batting. For me he was the swashbuckling batsman.

I used to watch cricket matches on television as they would be telecast. It was always fun to watch Kris during his batting. He would quickly make runs. He would concentrate and sometimes make faces or would grimace as he would bat. However, it was very evident that he was one of the best batsmen in the world and bowlers would have a tough time bowling to him.

He would partner with another great batsman, Sunil Gavaskar, as they would open the innings for India. Their partnership was legendary and often they would score many years in the first 10 overs of a match with a high strike rate.

Besides batting, Kris would also occasionally bowl and was a good fielder. He would always contribute to cricket matches. For some matches he also captained the Indian team.

I remember he would play all international bowlers very well including the greats from the West Indies such as Malcolm Marshalland Curtly Ambrose and from Australia such as Dennis Lillee. The only bowler I remember him having a tough time playing was Pakistan’s Wasim Akram. I think he played him well but not as well as he played the other international bowlers.

Often when India won cricket matches in those years Kris had a big part to play in them. In 1983 India won the One Day International World Cricket Cup. It was a very tough tournament and India fought hard to win it. While several players such as the then captain Kapil Dev did great for India in that tournament so did Kris. Amongst Kris’ many cricketing achievements being part of the world cup winning Indian team was the real zenith in his career.

He was a very jovial and cheerful sportsperson. It seemed that he got along very well with his teammates as well as with his opposing teams’ players. In his interviews on television (especially after his retirement) he displays a lot of wit and humour. A film has been made on the 1983 world cup win on the Indian team and its victory; the movie is titled ‘83. When it is released it will be interesting to see the portrayal of Kris Srikkanth by an actor.

His batting stance was interesting. He exuded confidence as he held the bat firmly in his hands and bent down standing waiting for the bowler’s ball. As soon as the ball was thrown he would quickly get into position and then hit a terrific cricket shot. It could be that in an over a bowler delivers six balls well so that each ball would be difficult to hit. As Kris was an amazing batsman he could play each such ball of an over.

In the last 10-15 years there have been great batsmen around the world including Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli from India, AB de Villiers from South Africa, Joe Root from England, Kane Williamson from New Zealand, Babar Azam from Pakistan, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell from Australia, etc. I think Kris would have definitely been an inspiration for some of them as well as thousands of budding cricketers in India and around the world.

Thank you, Kris Srikkanth, for being a top class batsman with a lot of finesse and for contributing to Indian cricket significantly.

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About the Creator

Anshuman Kumar

I live and work in Canada and am originally from India. I am interested in movies, short stories, swimming, travel etc. Tips are definitely optional but are very welcome. Thank you for reading.

My email is [email protected]

Thanks.

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