Brothers 'n Charms

​Brothers 'n CHARMS by Ranga Sampath 

Never did I imagine I'd meet my childhood cricketing idol. And definitely not at his home, sharing a casual evening laughter with cuppa chai and soup! This story has unlikely facilitators in two other brothers - both mine and more importantly his.

It all began on my birthday. As has become our habit, we began winter vacation in the air that day -- those typical long distance intercontinental flights across multiple time zones!  I have been known to milk these events by having my fellow travelers wish me in each time zone. This time was no different We flew in from San Diego to DC to Frankfurt enroute to Chennai. The journey was already made special in DC as we bumped into my IITM classmate, Sivudu (Anand Sivasubramanian) in the lounge, also traveling to Chennai. Quite the coincidence. As we were waiting in line to board the FRA-MAA flight, the familiar sounds of people speaking Tamizh hit our ears. I felt we were closer to home! Right next to us was a small group of people who seemed to know each other and had a friendly banter going. Then one gentleman from that group said  "Today is Srikant's birthday!" My ears perked up! I knew that Krishnamachhari Srikkanth, India's swashbuckling, fearless opening batsman from the 80s, shared my birthday, but could he be referring to the same guy? Never one to be intimidated by strangers, I mentioned that it was my birthday also! The gentleman gave me a smile and said he was Srikkanth's brother, Srinaath, and indeed he was referring to my hero!! I couldn't believe it. An instant bond was formed. Soon we boarded, and lo and behold, Srinaath was seated next to me across the aisle. This would be a memorable flight, I had a feeling. 

A word about Srinaath -- he is one of the most pleasant and friendly people you can meet! He is very open and warm; he exudes compassion and care. And he's spontaneous! He decided we'd celebrate my birthday on board and asked the purser if he could arrange for a small cake. Next thing I know I have a friendly Lufthansa crew with a personalized card and cake for me.  I cut it with everyone around me singing Happy Birthday to me. Then Srinaath asked me if I'd like to speak to Srikkanth! Would I? No doubt about it. He dialed his brother and I heard the voice of Cheeka, as he's familiarly called, on the line. We greeted each other on our shared birthday and that was  that. I had received my best gift already! Or had I?

In the meantime, I eagerly shared my cake-cutting video and selfies taken with Srinaath  with my family in India. My brother, Sridhar immediately responded saying Srinaath looked familiar! As Srinaath and I continued our conversations, I told him Sridhar seemed to recognize him. I showed him Sridhar's photo- and, the next surprise- Srinaath instantly knew where they had met: a business gathering in Chennai, 2 weeks prior! Small world. Then Srinaath uttered the next magical words: Would I be interested in meeting Cheeka? I couldn't believe my ears! Of course I would, I told him, but we were heavily time-constrained on the current trip. We settled on being in touch and he said I could reach out whenever I had time in the future. The rest of the flight was pleasant and we parted in Chennai, promising to stay in touch. 

Early the next morning when Maya and I woke up in Chennai we realized we had a short window the same evening, a day after my birthday, where we could possibly meet Srikkanth. I wrote to Srinaath if he was serious about his offer and if the very short notice would work for him and, more importantly Srikkanth, to meet. The response was affirmative! Both of them were available and we could meet at 630 pm!  Sridhar in the meantime was also excited - we both grew up loving Cheeka - and offered to drive us to Neelankarai. Maya, whose indoctrination to cricket was completed in 2025 with live, in-stadium, presence at Leeds, followed by not missing a ball of the exciting 5-match England vs India test series earlier this summer,  was also infected by the excitement! 

The Visit 

Neelankarai is on East Coast Road. This was once a sleepy town far from the city on the way to Mahabs when Srikkanth had bought a large piece of land and built his home in the late 80s.  Now,  with growing IT activities, it has become hard to reach due to traffic. Despite this, we managed to get there at the promised hour and the gates to the villa/mansion was opened by the watchman. As we stepped in, Srikkanth welcomed us from his beautifully manicured garden which had a nice gazebo and sitting area! Srinaath made the introductions and we were off down memory lanes. Sridhar and I had witnessed Cheeka's test and first ODI centuries in the series against Pakistan in 1987. Incidentally, both times  his score was 123! I saw it at Chepauk, in Chennai, while he had witnessed it in Eden Gardens, Kolkata! Except his game ended in an unexpected upset loss due to late heroics by Salim Malik!  When we asked Srikkanth about those moments, we could tell he was still upset about it! In his typical blunt fashion he blamed the captain, Kapil Dev, for throwing the match away with some bone-headed decisions! We, as upset spectators, totally agreed. We had clinched defeats from the jaws of victory in fading lights at the Eden! After all these years it clearly rankles all 4 of us. 

Srikkanth's candor and openness in speech is legendary. Many may find it difficult to  deal with, especially how he criticizes the players of today during his Tamil commentary! But, as Sridhar noted, there's a cult-following for his   Tamil commentary which approaches cricket with the same gusto as his batting - irreverent but effective. No holds barred irrespective of who's in front of him. He speaks his mind - only that his mind speaks in Madras bhaashai!! We in fact talked about his batting style and why he thought he could hit any bowler at any time - from ball number 1. He was unflinching in his response - he could read the bowlers hands very early and had the hand-eye coordination needed to take apart the bowler. He backed himself at  all times. He wistfully noted that if he had been given more rope, as some of the modern day cricketers are getting, he could've played longer! No regrets in his voice though. When asked about bowlers whom he found challenging, pat came rhe answer - Marshall and Akram! We had always known this. The memories of Sharjah where he hit Malcolm for a 4 and a 6 only to be cleaned up on the third bowl is an everlasting memory. Akram hastened his end with swinging yorkers that used to thud into his hapless pads. He readily admitted he couldn't pick those up because of Wasim's action. But there was no fear in him when it came to Imran, Holding or Roberts, all of whom he has hit for runs throughout his career. He said they were easy to pick up. Back to the two scores of 123 that Sridhar and I had witnessed, we can vouch for how thrilling it was to see him dismantle both Imran and Qadir, two best bowlers in that Pak squad, taking them for 20+ runs in an over! Repeatedly! Some of those shots are ringing in my ears even today. 

1983 and 1985

These are the two biggest stages where Cheeka established his reputation! And India learned to believe in itself against the mighty sides of the opposition. 

Windies were ruling supreme in '83. No one, not  even the Indians, believed we had any chance to do anything meaningful in the tournament. However, the young side led by Kapil came with the aspirations to do better than in 1975 and 1979 where in 6 matches they had only won one, against the lowly "East Africa" team - where is East Africa anyway? They were in a tough division in 1983, with the 2-time defending champions as well as the mighty Aussies! We played each other 2x in the opening stages. Zimbabwe matches  were our only realistic hopes to win, at best. 

Fairy tale began when india upset the Windies in the opening match. We had just finished a grueling away series in the Caribbeans and had put up a good fight without making a dent on the series win column. That was probably the best that had happened because Windies took us for granted and we had become familiar with their intimidation tactics! The entire fairy tale of the 1983 WC win has been captured beautifully in the epic "83"! I won't repeat the triumphs and heartbreaks here - if someone hasn't watched the movie I highly recommend you put everything down and go watch it now. But there are a few indelible moments for me that are worth repeating here as we all reveled in the recall. 

First, Cheeka confirmed that the movie was, in his opinion, 99% accurate. Anything that was made up fit within the 1 %. Of course this may be an exaggeration. One that had lingered in my mind was regarding the use of "mongoose bat" by Kapil Dev in the transformational Epic knock of 175 n.o.against Zimbabwe! Movie shows this but because there was no TV coverage of the match that day (BBC technical staffers went  on strike) we hadn't seen it. Not only did Srikkanth confirm this, later in the evening we saw the autographed personalized momento of this mongoose bat that each of the teamates was given and hangs in his collection in a framed case. Impressive bat! Check, true story. 

Second, the funny part in the movie was the time when Srikkanth, Kapil and Jimmy Amarnath get invited by a Tamil family. Cheeka was looking forward to this as he was tired of the "awful north indian dishes and sandwiches" (sic) he had to put up with till then. Unbeknownst to him, the family is portrayed as canvassing to get him married to their daughter. The visit actually happened - their family friends lived in Manchester and had indeed invited them. But by then Cheeka was already marries to Vidya, (incidentally a few years my senior from DTEA Lodhi Road), and the family was fully aware of it. So the 1% was the added spice of matchmaking!!

Finally, the best part for a Srikkanth lover, he was the Top Scorer of the Finals. A measly 38! Out to a Marshall Beauty! A moment of heartbreak for all of us watching the match live for the first time! But a magical Kapil catch much later would not only dismiss the marauder Sir Viv, but ensure that 38 was a match winning and highest knock that day. India held aloft the Prudential World Cup! The whole nation woke up to a cricket dream. From here on every loss would be  a dagger in the heart and the team mindset turned to a winning one. 1983 is "When  It All Started". 

As defending world champions, India entered 1985 Benson and Hedges tournament in Australia with a burden. World was out to prove we were a fluke who got lucky in 83! While there is no movie '85 yet, and I can write pages about that tournament, let's just say Srikkanth as the opener ensured we wouldn't falter. The large grounds in Australia usually intimidate batsmen as clearing them for 4s and 6s is more challenging. Not for Cheeka. He dismantled opposition bowlers like they were net bowlers and India won the tournament never once failing to be in front. The belief was now firmly established. All cricketing glory would have to go through India from here on. We were not to be taken lightly. While we  failed to win another WC title till 2011, the disappointment of 1987 home loss to England in SF or 1996  ignominy in Kolkata to the marauding Lankans that led to riots in the stands notwithstanding, India had woken up to an era of expectations. Kapil Dev and Srikkanth had led us to that belief. They were the stepping stones - the pioneers on whose shoulders future stars would shine.

I digress. Or do I? These are Srikkanth's stories. Those who watched him bat were awestruck. From Richie Benaud in the commentary box to Sunil Gavaskar, the man who defined opening batting  and  who once scored a "classic" 36 n.o. in 60 overs in 1975, were left applauding the stroke play. There was no putting the genie back in the  box. From Sidhu to Sehwag to Dhawan, Rohit, Jaiswal and Abhishek, the improvisations have advanced leaps and bounds, but at a time when no one had heard of T20, IPL and fielding restrictions, Cheeka stood tall and delivered. Perhaps the best compliment was seeing in action Sunny out  pacing Srikkanth against NZ in 1987 WC innings. What a dramatic turnaround.  Best form of praise is imitation indeed!!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving!

We had not planned this visit. I desperately wanted his autograph. Only thing I had handy was a book on Azhwars (Vaishnava saints) by Late Indra Soundarrajan! An amazing book, but semed an odd choice for a cricketer's autograph. Since I had no  other option, I took it along with me. Cheeka unknowingly brought up a topic that made perfect connection. We were talking about our disappointments on so many occasions where Cheeka would throw his wicket away after scoring 20-30 runs. Not because the bowlers did something special, but it was often to ordinary balls. In his inimitable style, perhaps with a bit if sadness tinging voice, he admitted he was "arrogant", didn't think most bowlers needed to be respected, adding it was the "Iyengar Kozhuppu" 😜😜! The highest form of ego in the "I, Iyer, Iyengar" ladder! The minute he said it I had my cue to bring out the Azhwars book!! He gladly signed it. 

Then the unexpected happened. He ran into his house even as we were all talking and was gone for a few minutes. Then he came back with the perfect gift befitting the stylish batsman. Miniature bats with his WC '83 and B&H'85 images along with group photo of his teammates. He autographed the bats and spoke kindly before handing it to us. Our cup was brimming over. 

The last and equally surprising part of the evening was yet to come. Srinaath suggested Cheeka take us inside the house to his trophy collection in his office. Srikkanth almost seed embarrassed by this but thankfully he was open to this. What a treasure trove. See the photos and you'll see what I mean. A replica of the Prudential WC 1983 trophy, autographed bats, various trophies. He allowed us to photograph them and also kindly posed with us, capping off a memorable evening. 

We had spent over an hour with him and all 5 of us could have talked for another 2! But we didn't want to overextend our invitation and said our goodbyes, albeit reluctantly. Couldn't believe this had actually happened. On the car ride back we 3 were unanimous in our feeling that this had been the best thing we could have done. The brothers, Srikkanth and Srinaath, were gem of human beings - so down to earth, warm and hospitable. Made us feel at home. 

Maya has been a cricket convert since we met and started watching mostly WC matches. In 1999 we nearly named our child based on one of the modern stars of that time- Sachin, Sourav, or Rahul! Luckily we had a girl!! We stay up all night for WC matches even now, often with our San Diego family group either in person or via texting. But she never knew Cheeka. Couldn't understand why I'd go on and  on about a yesteryear hero. And how awkward it'd be for her to come meet someone she knew nothing about. If it were not for my child-like enthusiasm and insistence we may never have made this. She was willing to humor me as it was my birthday. After the one hour I think she's as big a fan if not bigger. Sridhar of course was the beneficiary of all this but he rescheduled multiple meetings and was eager to drive through the Chennai traffic all the way to Neelankarai on a weekday evening to meet Cheeka! There was no way he was going to miss out on this. 

Thank you Cheeka for the  hospitality and for trusting your brother's words. You didn't just open doors to your house but also to your heart. Bigger thanks to Srinaath for taking a typical airport friendship to a very different level. I didn't expect you to respond to my message after we had parted. Had a sinking feeling it was going to be a case of so near yet so far. But you were sincere in your words followed through. We were blown away. I dedicate this day to you and Sridhar for bringing us all together! Truly Brothers in Arms!