Introduction
In his time the Indiana Jones of Indian cricket, Srikkanth's batting style
was entertaining, innovative and explosive. Indeed, his approach came as a whiff
of fresh air and, not unexpectedly, he was a great crowd puller. A swashbuckling
opening batsman cast in the Mushtaq Ali mould, Srikkanth could destroy the
strongest and most fearsome attacks in the world by fearless pulling, hooking
and driving. But there were times when he could be dismissed by some pretty
ordinary bowling. Gifted with a good eye and super-quick reflexes, Srikkanth's
buccaneering methods quickly caught the eye of the selectors and he made his
international debut at 21.
Consistency however was not his watchword and he was more out of than in the
Indian team. But by the mid 80s, his attacking methods had acquired some
discipline and he remained the regular opening batsman till 1989. Appointed
captain for the tour of Pakistan that year he achieved a major triumph when the
team drew all the four Tests. But the selectors pounced on his batting failures
and he only made it back after two years in the wilderness. By this time he was
over 30 and he did not have the reflexes of old. And when he was not selected
for the South Zone team in 1993, Srikkanth, at 33, announced his retirement. If
his Test record is impressive, given his sometimes outrageous batting style, he
was a natural for the limited-overs game.
At the time he quit the scene, Srikkanth had scored more runs and more
centuries than any other Indian cricketer and he made them in double-quick time
exasperating some of the finest and fastest bowlers in the game. He was one of
the heroes of the World Cup triumph in 1983 and also played in the competition
in 1987 and 1992. After leaving the game, Srikkanth has worked as a cricket
analyst for various Indian news channels and in February 2008, was named the
ambassador for the Chennai Super Kings franchise of the Indian Premier League.
Later than year, he succeeded Dilip Vengsarkar as the chairman of India's first
ever paid selection panel.
Krish Srikkanth during his playing years as a member and captain of the Indian cricket team was known for his swash buckling and aggressive batting style.
He was also the coach of the Indian under-19 and India “A” Teams. Currently he is the chief selector of the Indian team.
He has used his years of knowledge and expertise to author this blog on cricket techniques that will be of great value to budding cricketers.