Vimal Khumar TN Cricketer

The 16 year old talented Southpaw brings with him a refreshing selfless attitude that places the team ahead of the self - a Rarity in TN cricket these days

Just under 35 years ago, a young 14 year Class IX student of RKM School, T. Nagar burst on to the cricket scene in Madras with an almost unmatched bowling performance for a U15 cricketer at that time. Modelling his action on Imran Khan, TN Ramachandran picked up six, seven and eight wicket hauls in three successive TNCA school matches.

Unlike today, exposure was very limited for un-fancied schools and one had to perform in those bare minimum opportunities to impress the selectors. It was a period in city cricket in Madras that was dominated by Santhome and Don Bosco and to a lesser extent Vidya Mandir.

Without backing from the powers that be and coming from a school such as RKM, Ramachandran could not find a place in the U15 squad despite picking up 21 wickets in 3 matches. His non selection in the age group team left Advocate TS Ramaswamy (YMCA TSR) fuming.

TSR ran one of the earliest coaching academies in the city from YMCA Nandanam and Ramachandran belonged to the first set of boys to join the academy in the mid 1980s. TSR was not one of those who would talk to the selectors to influence the selection of boys from his academy. But the non selection of Ramachandran left a poor taste in him in the way selectors looked at school cricketers in the city.

Unfortunately, those that belonged to Santhome or Don Bosco were better placed as compared to those from RKM or PSBB and usually talent and scores from the not so cricketing big schools did not find the same treatment from the selectors that decade. TSR could just not understand how a young boy with three successive extraordinary bowling performances in the recognised TNCA school tournament would  be left out of the squad when there was no equivalent performance that season from any other school cricketer.

During that entire phase in the late 80s, Ramachandran remained a quiet, shy cricketer and one of the most honest human beings I had seen on the cricket field trying to do his best on the field leaving the rest to the selectors.

As is with cricket and most other sports, one has to be given an opportunity when in the peak of form to progress. This unfair rejection in the middle of the 1980s put Ramachandran back by a few years for such extraordinary bowling performances do not come every day. He later played first division cricket for Alwarpet but the non selection in that crucial season as an U15 cricketer left him dejected and depressed.

Well over three decades later, history seemed to repeat itself for Ramachandran!!! Despite a terrific performance in school circuit, Ramachandran’s teenaged son was left out of the annual state summer camp leaving R Vimal Khumar in almost the same state mind as his father all those decades ago.

Madanagopal plays the Mentor in testing times
In the mid 1980s, there was none to motivate Ramachandran during the frustrating times that he went through. This time the saving grace was that there was a mentor to keep the son motivated. BCCI Umpire and former South Zone Cricketer J Madanagopal (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html), someone who is well respected in the cricketing circles as a mentor, was at the St. Bedes ground coaching boys during the summer. It was he who seeing a dejected young boy kept up the spirits of the young boy through that entire summer  focusing on strengthening his mind. And the result of the strong mind is there to see. Since then, the young cricketer has looked up to Madanagopal for inputs during challenging times in his still young cricketing career. 

In 2017, I umpired a lower division match featuring the then 14 year old Vimal Khumar. Batting at the top of the order, he scored a brilliant eye catching century. Later in the day, standing at forward short leg to the spin duo of Kubendran and Vijayasarathy, he picked up two extraordinary catches. But what struck me the most that day was not the century or the catches. It was the refreshing attitude of a young teenager who seemed to place the team ahead of the self.

His voice was heard the most on the field. He ran from deep square on one side to deep mid wicket on the other through the innings. He was there every where that day.  That league season he topped 400 runs.

PC Prakash ropes 15 year old Vimal into 2nd Div
South Zone middle order batsman  in the 1980s and current batting coach at the TNCA academy PC Prakash, who runs/manages a couple of  teams in the TNCA league was the one who roped Vimal for his 2^nd division team this season when the view, especially from the seniors at SBI (his previous team) was that he should play another year of lower division cricket and continue with the same club. And that has paid rich dividends. He has been among the runs in the competitive 2^nd division league. That, along with his performances for his school, led him into the state U16 squad.

Earlier this season, in an U16 state match when he had the opportunity to prolong his innings after his century and expand his statistical tally, he hit out in team’s interest and got out. Most others would have ended up with a Not Out score. He scored 550 runs in the Vijay Merchant tournament. But it is not the statistics that impresses one about him. In a city where selfish cricketers and playing for oneself has become the norm, Vimal Khumar’s selfless attitude is refreshing.

After a long time, Madanagopal is delighted to find someone like him in city cricket “Vimal is a rarity among the modern generation of cricketers ‘He is selfless, looking to always play for the team. Clearly, one finds that he places the team’s interest ahead of himself. For a long time one has not seen an attitude such as this in local cricket.”

The huge scores he has put together in the U 16 tournament that included two centuries and two 80 plus scores prompted a surprise U19 call up in the Tamil Nadu squad for Vimal last week.

PC Prakash finds Vimal very level headed for his age. More importantly he sees Vimal as a fantastic student of the game, a willing listener and one who is ever keen to absorb good inputs. Though he has just begun his career and has a long way to go, the fact that he loves batting and is hungry for success is good news for TN cricket. Prakash believes that Vimal's passion for the game and his hard work and attitude will take him far though he stresses the importance of leaving him alone without too much interference (and unnecessary attention and glorification) so that he understands the importance of performing consistently and staying grounded.

                         

12 years ago, I wrote about Abhinav Mukund (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/09/cricket-pick-of-month-abhinav-mukund.html) as a 17 year old on the verge of entry into Ranji cricket. It has taken a decade for me to find another cricketer in that age group with both the talent and hunger for runs that Abhinav had at that age. More importantly, Vimal has a special old fashion attitude to cricket seeing that as a team game, as a sport to enjoy and to always puts the team first.

Imbibes Father's honest attitude

At the beginning of 1988, Ramachandran and I played for the same league team. In the very first match that season, we were chasing a modest 110 to win in 50 overs at the New College ground. A collapse meant we were 90 for 8 batting in fading light late in the evening. Almost the entire team wanted him to claim bad light (those days batsmen had the right to claim for bad light) and it was likely that the umpires would have decided in his favour. But to everyone’s utter disbelief, Ramachandran said that he could sight the ball and would not ask for bad light. We lost the match by about 15runs. But that was Ramachandran for you. He would not do anything that was against the spirit of the game.

Vimal has imbibed those qualities from his cricketing father. With his attitude towards cricket that places the team ahead of the self and with a huge hunger for runs and to play the long innings,  it is likely that this talented southpaw will go a long way not just in cricket but in life as well. 

Just like with Abhinav, this blog will track closely the progress of Vimal in the coming years.