Succeeding
against the Odds
He was a rank outsider in the mid 1980s with no backing in those early days. Very few in the cricketing circles knew him. He did not have a cricket kit of his own. He was not financially strong. But he made up for all this with a determination that indicated very early on that he would succeed against all odds.
Close
to 30 years after I first played against him in a Saturday match at YMCA, R. Rajesh
Kannan (Kanna to all the cricketers in those days) has just, in the last week, been appointed as a
Board Umpire ( BCCI umpire), quite a significant achievement for a low profile
cricketer, who continues to play 1st division cricket for IOB despite
being well into his 40s.
Sometimes he would walk all the way from Saidapet to play matches over the weekend and
during the summer against a little more fancied YMCA (TSR) team at the YMCA
ground in Nandanam. Other times he would catch the crowded 45B bus to Nandanam. But he was always on time and raring to go and prove himself against the more established players. Almost every match, he would take his team to victory single handedly from precarious position that he would find his team in.
Many
a ball was dispatched into the tennis court on the Western side and the YMCA boys had to jump the wired fencing to fetch the ball back.
Early cricketing trips to Bangalore
Spotting the
talent in him, he was roped in by YMCA (TSR) for the annual summer tournaments
in Bangalore. In the very first year, he took a brilliant catch at deep fine
leg right on the boundary line to dismiss Mujibur Rehman (playing for Kohinoor –
Chemplast) in the first over the match. An hour later, he induced an edge,
first ball, from S Ramesh (who later went on to play test cricket) but S Ravi
at slip put it down (Ramesh
went on to score a century and YMCA lost that match).
Having
started off with Kamyuth in the fourth division, he moved to Vigneswara and
Vijay CC in the 2nd division of the TNCA league in the late 1980s/early 90s. He joined Port Trust as a clerk and then moved on to IOB as a clerk as well. Keen to pursue his professional career
alongside his cricketing ambitions, he did his MBA (Finance) that helped him graduated to
the officer’s level at IOB and later into the managerial cadre.
Two decades of Cricket for IOB
The
same hard work and commitment led him to concentrate on his work as well in his
20s that saw him make a steady and gradual progress at IOB, where he is now a Senior Manager (when many other cricketers his age had squandered the opportunity to learn
at the work place – signing off at the office in the morning and heading back home
immediately after).
Close to State Selection
In
the mid 1990s, there was a time he came close to State Selection but he was ‘asked’
by the TN Selector (who is still active in the cricketing circles) to declare
himself unfit so a former Don Bosco Star could make it into the squad. That
ruined yet another career of a cricketer in Tamil Nadu.
Undeterred
he continued to play on and two decades after that incident, he still plays for
IOB in the first division.
During
that period, he got interesting offers from leading private teams from the 1st
division including from a top captain of those days. But he resisted those
offers and is now into the 21st year of first division cricket at
IOB. And thus he has remained a star performer who did not play for any of the ‘fancied’
teams.
Into Umpiring
At the turn of the decade, he had also become a TNCA umpire and has been officiating in the TNCA league in recent years .
The
determination he showed when playing is also seen in his coaching methodology as
I watch him from the sidelines at the Vivekananda College ground. The rigour
with which he trains his students is rarely seen in coaching academies in Madras
these days. His students may or may not make it big in cricket but sure they
will learn the route to success in life being with Rajesh Kannan.
He
has also imbibed in his elder daughter (aged 13) the ethics of hard work. After
working hard on her carnatic music for a few years, she will be presenting her
first big Kutcheri on the first Sunday of July at the Sunday Kutcheri in the Park
organised by Sundaram Finance.
Rajesh Kannan has just been nominated into the next big league in Umpiring. He was been selected as an umpire on the panel
of the BCCI. He missed playing for the state but he will now have the
opportunity to umpire state matches.
He
did not let frustrations get the better of him while playing and worked hard to make himself
relevant to his team every single year over the last two decades.
It
feels good when someone with literally no backing of any sort and with no god
fathers succeeds in the cricketing arena. Rajesh Kannan is one such guy and the graduation as a Board Umpire is a great reward for his commitment to cricket over the last thirty years.
Alongside S Ravi (http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2013/08/s-ravi-set-for-umpiring-test-debut.html) and J Madanagopal (http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2012/05/madanagopal-set-for-big-leap-as-umpire.html), it
is hoped that Rajesh Kannan will make it big in Umpiring in the coming years.
12 comments:
Super article Prabhu. .
Let your pen speak volumes going forward.
Very happy to learn that Rajesh has qualified himself to be a part of BCCI umpiring panel.
I am sure he will enjoy his umpiring stint and the exposure that he gets out of doing the job all over the country with various set of colleagues and different paying conditions.
I wish him a wonderful career.
Regards,
Kalyanasundaram.B
Read your article on the rise of rajesh kannan and was overwhelmed.
Got to admit you have done a great digging of his heroic past to come out with some great facts which only a handful of people know.
Once again wishing you all the best .
Warm regards
Sridhar
Very inspiring and something I showed to my wife too.best wishes to rajesh kannan
(Former India Cricketer)
Good One.
I am getting to know lots of talent unknown to
Main Stream Media.
Truly inspiring and best wishes to Rajesh.
- Arun L.U
Brilliant piece Prabhu
Best wishes @Rajesh Kannan
Hope u achieve higher peaks
Gomakant Mahambrey
Umpire
Goa CA
will he make it like Ravi?
TCS employee...Chennai
Nice story, especially the hard work and ethics points.
From Delhi
Sir you are great.
Hats off to his hard work and commitment.
I am a big fan of people who work hard, my dad being an example working well into his late 70's riding a scooter to construction places and overseeing them.
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