June 25, 1983 – The final of the 1983 World Cup. The venue: Cricket’s Mecca, the Lord’s stadium.
The match: The mighty West Indies versus the “they are no match for us” Indians.
The bowler: The pride of West Indies, Andy Roberts.
The scene: Roberts races in and bowls. He is squarely driven for a four. The next two bouncers are driven for a four and a six, consecutively. Pin drop silence, before the crowd erupts. The man with the magical bat – K. Srikanth, one of the architects of India’s finest hour in the history of Indian cricket.
In a land where slogging sluggers were pre occupied by scores, K. Srikkanth was a breath of fresh air. Even master slugger Sunil Gavaskar said he felt rejuvenated when Srikkanth opened with him. Srikkanth was a maverick. He remained a flamboyant cricketer: exciting, unpredictable, fearless, a charmer both on and off the field. By the mid-1980’s Srikanth had acquired consistency and remained India’s opening batsman till 1989. As a captain he did reasonably well drawing all four matches against Pakistan, but the Cricket Board ousted him citing his not very exciting batting averages. He made a comeback only after two years and announced his retirement in 1993, probably tired by the politicking that remains an intrinsic part of Indian cricket to this day.
Srikkanth retains the same warmth, simplicity and candor, which made him the darling of the crowds and the media during his cricketing days. He visited Atlanta recently to promote Num an Internet Television network, and talked about the cricketing years, and taking NUM TV to the masses in India and abroad.
Tell me about the early years.
You know how it is in India. You eat, sleep, drink, cricket, and I was no different. Like any child in India, you play cricket on the street, living room, break a few windows, and get yelled at by your father, so I went through the same cycle. As a youngster I never dreamt I would ever play for India, and coming from an orthodox family, we were more into studies. I studied electrical engineering and while in college I played for the All India under-19. It was then that I realized that perhaps I had the potential for playing for India. I made my test debut in December 1981, against England in Bombay and I got out without scoring. It was a pathetic debut, and very tension filled.”
Do you think you were too young? Would you have played differently had you made your debut a little later?
No I don’t think so. I was a slam-bang type of cricketer and remained that till the last day of my career. I guess my approach to everything in life has been slightly unorthodox, and I am pretty happy with what little I have achieved. What satisfies me is the fact that people remember me more for the way I played rather than the number of runs I scored. It was refreshing, to see someone doing that than having to stay on the wicket for a long time and scoring.
So in retrospect, now that one-day cricket is so popular, do you think your game was more suited to one day cricket?
Probably, and yet you can’t brand any one as a one-day or a test cricketer. I was an opening batsman, and to open an innings is always a difficult task, especially in India.
The feelings run so high. Looking at the people who opened for India, I think my test record is reasonably good if not extraordinary. One-day cricket is more popular and so people remember more one-day cricket shots. Even with Sachin Tendulkar, it’s the same thing.
Looking back, did you ever expect one day cricket to become so popular?
I think thanks to extensive television coverage, one day cricket has taken an amazing turn in the past decade. Ultimately people want entertainment, even though we cannot compare once day cricket and test cricket. They are two different kinds of games. Yet the stage has come, where you do choose people to be in teams for one day cricket if you think their game is more suited to that and others for 5 day cricket, depending on their game and temperament. One-day cricket has come to stay and requires a lot of planning contrary to what people think. You have to make, quick, intelligent, at times, on the spot, decisions. It doesn’t matter what it is, batting, or bowling, or fielding. One day cricket is more tension-filled as well.
So what did you prefer personally?
Personally one day cricket was more exciting, though it was always a matter of pride and honor to play test cricket.
How would you rate yourself as a captain?
Sunil Gavaskar once said, it’s only In India that people get so worked up about captaincy.
You did very well against Pakistan but were dropped on your return?
I enjoyed my captaincy even though I was captain for a very short time. I guess I was a reasonably successful captain. I’m very happy that I got the opportunity. I take it as a matter of pleasure and pride to captain my country. When I returned from Pakistan as a successful captain, I thought they were slightly harsh towards me by dropping me. It was due to non-cricketing reasons but I guess everyone has unfulfilled ambitions. One has to accept things and move on. If I can take any credit it is of course the fact that Tendulkar made his debut against Pakistan under my captaincy.
I keep hearing that the Cricket Board still has more bureaucrats than cricketers?
Well that will always be there I guess. Cricket will never change and our country will never change, people will keep talking and cribbing. I think the greatest thing about the game of cricket, in India is that it is a prime source of continued gossip, arguments, heated discussions for hours together. That is the passion it generates in us Indians.
So if I put you at the helm what would you change?
Today primarily we have to start planning and grooming cricketers but we are not doing that. We are looking at short-term gains instead of planning for the long term. We have no long-term plans that two years down the road, this is the kind of team we want to have. Today we have no all-rounders, so we need to groom all-rounders. We are not doing that, we are just haphazardly trying to put together a team. Even if we don’t win a couple of series, it’s okay. Let us develop an outstanding team two years down the line. We desperately want to win everything. The selection policy also has to change.
There still seems to be a big gap between performances on the domestic circuit and test cricket, abroad. So nothing has changed there either. Are cricket pitches still not well prepared?
You hit the nail on the head. You know how the Indian pitches were in India. The ball doesn’t bounce more than knee high and doesn’t help medium pacers, and the moment you are through with the medium pacers and come on with the spinners who are then slammed all over the place, we say we are great batsmen. You have to have sporting tracks. We need to play on hard, fast pitches. If spin is your strength, then prepare pitches to suit that. But don’t create poor quality tracks. We need to have a lot of planning and vision, otherwise the state of cricket will remain as bad as it is. Pakistan is doing a better job of preparing their pitches. They have imported black clay from Australia but in India we are not bothered. We are busy poking our noses in the business of cricket than developing cricket.
I believe the new bats have made a big difference too?
The bats today have an extraordinary quality. All the mistimed shots can go for sixes! I think television has boosted this game to an amazing level. You have to thank the media for that as well.
Which were your most memorable cricket moments?
The greatest moment of glory was winning the 1983 world cup. We had good all- rounders like Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Roger Binny, and Mohinder Amarnath. I think that was one of the best all round teams, and then winning the 1985 World Championship in Australia. I think those two were the greatest moments in Indian cricket history because we were able to beat everybody convincingly and Indians the world over could walk on the street and say we are world champions. As far as my own career goes, my personal favorite was the century (123) I got against Pakistan in Madras.
How has cricket changed in the past two decades?
Today one-day cricket is more in focus. Thanks to one-day the fielding standards have improved the world wide, but each era has its own special moments, and one should enjoy that.
What about the match fixing debacle?
I don’t want to talk about it. I think the right steps have been taken and I guess we need to move on. The game is superior than anybody else and will go on.
How did you get involved in NUM TV?
NUM TV is Web TV. It’s a gateway for Indians all over world, where you can access any Indian channel. It has live shows as well as archives available, and also a cricket channel that will be engineered by me in the background. You can watch it any time of the day. I am glad to see that the GIACC(Georgia India Chamber of Commerce) is trying to promote business between India and Georgia. I think sports and entertainment are going to be big business for the future. We have been doing road shows and playing matches, and I’ m amazed at the response we have had. People have been very nice and every body has looked after us. I’m thrilled at the enthusiasm for cricket in this part of the world. I won’t be surprised if one of these days someone gets in to the business of starting a cricket league here.