S Mahesh TN All Rounder

A Cricketer who lived on principles, played by his rules, went against the norm of the day and achieved what no other cricketer in the State did in the 1990s – Did not play a single match for the top 3 clubs in the city and yet played 50+ first class matches 

Now Head Coach of VB Academy 

‘Maggie’is the one of the very few genuine allrounders in TN’s over 8 decades cricket history- VV Kumar, Legendary Leg spinner and Chairman of TN Selectors in the mid 90s                             

It was just after the new academic year had begun in 1990. I was walking around at the Pachaiyappas College B Ground when I saw a tall guy repeatedly sending the ball outside the huge wall on the Western side. Not often do you see the balls getting lost almost every over at that ground. It was an early indication of what the teenager was capable of. 15 years later, after he had played over 50first class matches as a top notch all rounder including Duleep and Deodhar Trophy, in his final season in local league cricket, I umpired a match of his at Chepauk where he showcased a characteristic that had been an integral part of his cricketing career. Extreme aggression on the field, a vocal and vociferous display of emotions, a bit of stubbornness and taking on the opposition head on (in this case the umpire as well), almost literally, had become a feature of the way he played cricket. He took everyone on in the field, from the big to the small, and many a time won the cricketing battle. He debuted at No.11 and opened the batting in his final first class match. After his cricket career, he slogged at a manufactured firm for 15years, the only first class cricketer from the 1990s to work full time at a firm for that long. 

As I tried to catch up with him almost 15 years after that match at Chepauk, this man, a complete workaholic, now in his late 40s was cycling his way back 250kms on a newly bought cycle to Chennai, from Krishnagiri. For a cricketer who had played with aplomb for the state for over a decade, he could have reached out to the ‘powers’ that be to get the necessary clearance during the lockdown. But this man would not. He has lived his life on principles and often that has come at a cost but he has remained undeterred, one of the many rare qualities of this terrific all rounder. The greatest pride he has, looking back at his first class career, is that he had No God Father, No Mentor, faced ‘sports politics’ at important phases in his career and yet managed to play half a century of first class matches, purely on merit. 

Here is the story of a unique cricketer from the 1990s, who never played a single match for the top three renowned clubs of Chennai – Chemplast, India Cements or MRF and yet played a decade of first class cricket.

A 'Sodakku' Exponent in Tennis Ball

S Mahesh began his cricket on the streets of Azhvaar Tirunagari (not to be confused with the Nava Tirupathi Divya Desam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/06/nava-tirupathi-garuda-sevai.html?m=1) on the western outskirts of Chennai playing tennis ball cricket, where he would often bowl the knuckle ball much before it became popular in international cricket with Ajantha Mendis. Unlike many others his age, he did not go to any academy and continued with tennis ball cricket until one day leggie Chandrasekar (George Oakes), with whom I played league cricket for a year in the 1990s, roped him into a league team when he was 15 years. He batted at No. 11 in his debut match (he also batted at No. 11 in his Ranji Debut) for Perambur Cricket Club but showed his bowling skills picking up 5 wickets. It was the beginning of a long almost two decade association with cricket in which he faced many a struggle to bring to light his cricketing skills.

Challenges at RKM 

Unfortunately, he found challenges in the very beginning. Right then as a 15 year old he showed what he was made of, an indication of what was to follow in his life. The Sports Master at RKM School, T. Nagar was a Ball Badminton enthusiast and wanted him to focus on this sport while Mahesh was keen on cricket. After his class X exams, he made it clear that Cricket was his first interest and that he would move to another school if he was not allowed to play cricket for the school. The master relented and Mahesh had his way over the next two years. 

Mistrust begins 

As with middle class families of the time, his parents were keen for him to pursue his academics and for him to join Vivekananda College. But there was pressure from the cricket team at Pachaiyappas College for him to be an integral part of their cricket for the next three years with SM Balaji, who he would join at Indian Bank the next decade, being instrumental in him taking the decision for a cricket life at Pachaiyappas. But it was also the time when he was let down in terms of the course he was to take. After his acceptance to join Pachiayappas for cricket and when he had let go of all other options in the city colleges, he was given a different course (BA Economics) by the Physical Director after having been promised his more preferred course. It was a decision that probably led him to an everlasting mistrust in people. And as is seen from his career, rarely did he agree to offers even if it were seemingly lucrative.

The first Big Breaks but more sour taste in early years 

His first big moment in cricket came when he was chosen for the state U19 team. He had not played U15 or U17 cricket for the state and this was to be his first entry into junior cricket for the state. He picked up wickets in his first year. And then an event following a match in U23 left a poor taste in him and the mistrust in people continued. He had joined SPIC in the first division league to play under VB Chandrasekar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html).

In an U23 state match, Mahesh was asked to go as night watchman and he came up trumps with a blistering knock of 99. When Mahesh came back for the match at SPIC,  VBC made a remark to his club and U23 team mate J Gokulakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/03/gokulakrishnan-j.html?m=1) ‘Why did you not go as the night watchman. See he (Mahesh) has now used the opportunity.’ He was just out of his teens and to hear this comment from a former India player left a sour taste in him.

Ranji Debut and rejects offers from top clubs 

It was after Gokulakrishnan was called for ‘chucking’ that Mahesh made his Ranji Trophy Debut, when in his first year at work at SPIC, in January 1994 at the age of 20. In the year they played together for SPIC  Mahesh and Gokulakrishnan were feared as Wasim Akram -Waqar Younis duo of Chennai cricket 

During the months following his Ranji debut, he was in constant chat with his captain at SPIC and former Ranji Trophy batsman PC Prakash who looks back at that summer of 1994 “We definitely wanted him to stay at SPIC for he had performed brilliantly for us. I still remember his great spell when he took 7 wickets against Chemplast. Offers were pouring from all the leading clubs and he would discuss each of these with me at my house. While he would hear out all that I said, he would come back the next morning and go back to where we started. He was indecisive, off the field on the choice of the league team.” 

                         
It was an incredibly great feeling for him that year with every single team in the first division pursuing him after he had just turned 21. Quite shockingly, Mahesh rejected all the top offers and went for the officer’s post at Indian Bank.

Having seen him at SPIC, VBC was keen to take along with him to India Cements with Gokulakrishnan. While the former moved without battling an eyelid (India Cements had helped him incredibly soon after the chucking incident) and formed a formidable partnership with VBC at India Cements and later for Goa, Mahesh pondered over the move and did not get to sign up. It always struck him that Gokulakrishnan was VBC's preferred choice and that he may to play second fiddle to him.

TA Sekar of MRF too tried for a while but he found Mahesh too moody for his liking and did not pursue further after Mahesh did not answer in the affirmative “We were interested in him but he was influenced by so many others and hence we did not pursue. He was too moody.” 

And then Vijay Sankar - The Biggest Rejection 

However, it was the rejection of Chemplast that was the most interesting and gave an indication of the personality behind Mahesh. Now VC and MD, Vijay Sankar was at the ground to watch league matches in the late 1980s and early 90s. He was fully in charge of 2nd division team Kohinoor for whom Mahesh’s brother S Ramesh (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2014/11/sadhagopan-ramesh.html) played as a teenager. Vijay had a special liking for Mahesh and tried to put sense into him on the benefits of playing for a strong team like Chemplast. There was a time in the 1990s when Vijay even went to Mahesh’s house to get him to agree and pampered him even on devotional trips to Tirupathi. He even went to the extent of assuring him of a corporate career after his cricketing retirement but Mahesh remained firm and stubborn. It was rare for one from the founder family to pursue this way but Vijay found Mahesh to be a class apart and worth this persuasion. 

Unfortunately, Mahesh had developed a mental block from a young age of the way the team was run at Chemplast. In his mind, he had decided that the cricketing culture anchored by Bharath Reddy was not one suited to him. He never changed his mind in the years that followed. Almost 30 years later he is grateful that Vijay Sankar did 'what he did' in that phase and says that he has the greatest regard for him but does not regret not playing for Chemplast in his life time “I consider Vijay Sankar as next only to my Mother in life in the way he engaged with me at that time but I could not have played for Chemplast in the environment that existed there at that time.”

Satish recalls the day when Vijay Sankar came home and spoke to the family members for well over an hour sitting in the portico of the house in Azhvaar Tirunagar on Mahesh being taken care of at Chemplast “We were all convinced that he should play for Chemplast. Mahesh would hear out the family members but while he would give us hope once in while as if he was listening to us, I think in his mind he was also clear that Chemplast was not the place to go for cricket. As this went on, my brother Ramesh asked me not to force him into a decision and we let him take his own call.”

The Initial Years at Indian Bank

Instead of the top three cricketing teams of the city, he opted for the officer’s post at Indian Bank. Unfortunately, he does not have happy memories at Indian Bank. There were no proper net facilities, at least not like the ones from the top private clubs. He did not have cricketing shoes that fitted his size( he had to seek that from the West Indian team). 

Only years later did he realize that he was always seen as a staffer who also played cricket as contrasted with the private clubs who were seen as professional cricketers. On the cricketing front, he was completely squeezed. He remembers bowling from morning to tea against Railways in one single spell. There was no ‘taking care’ of the fast bowler at that important phase in his life. It was testimony to his fitness that he bowled without complaining but it left a bad taste in him on how people used him. He remembers another match “Against India Pistons, I went to bat at 90/6 chasing around 240. Soon we were 110/8. I scored an unbeaten century and we took the first innings lead. In the next match, I was once again sent at No. 8. That was the way I was treated at the bank.”

Eldest brother and former India Pistons captain S Satish Kumar remembers Mahesh as being a fitness freak right from his childhood days “He was a self motivated person from very early on . He would wake up at 4am on his own and cycle all the way from Azhvaar Tirunagar to the Beach on the East Coast for his morning run and fitness regime. He would then go to the Bank by cycle. In the 2nd half he would be at the nets bowling long hours. He had great work ethics right from his teenage days. He would cycle to school, college, nets and to the Bank. That’s how he developed the stamina to bowl long spells. His focus on fitness also let to his strong shoulders.”

The fitness freak and a Cyclist all his life once  'bought' the 'Match of the Match' cycle from Ananthpadmanabhan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/ananthapadmanabhan-kn.html) after a YSCA Trophy tournament.

More Distrust-Cricket Politics in the State 

In one of the years when he was performing well, he overheard a bathroom conversation between two senior people who were working a plan to sideline him from the team. Similar to Rajesh Kannan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/06/rajesh-kannan-bcci-board-umpire.html) a few years ago, Mahesh was dropped citing fitness issues when he was fully fit. It was the legendary VV Kumar, the Chairman of the State selection Panel, who fought for Mahesh in the selection committee meeting backing the wickets he had taken and the runs he had scored and remained firm to keep him in the TN Squad. 

Legendary VV Kumar fights for 'Maggie'

VV Kumar stood his ground citing the exceptional performances of Mahesh “I went and watched Maggie in the local league matches and found his performances to be exceptional. He was prepared to ‘go miles’ to be successful. He had it in him to be a match winner especially with his ability to bat with impunity and was capable of playing in the higher echelons of cricket. Had he been given more chances and used better in the matches that he played, it is likely he would have scaled much higher for he was one of the few genuine allrounders in the history of TN cricket. ” 

VV Kumar found the same challenges at the Zonal level too when he was part of the South Zone Selection Unit in that period “I pitched for Maggie and told them that he was a player for all occasions. He could bat in any spot in the order and had the ability to turnaround a match on his own. But he did not get the chances he deserved.” 

As he went through that phase in the mid 90s, he knew t was always going to be an uphill battle to fight cricket politics “You had to always remain in the good books to be picked and I was not one such guy to do things to be in the good books” says Mahesh of his struggles to remain in contention through that decade.

Simply a Captain's Delight

Match Referee S Sharath the TN captain in the late 1990s remembers Mahesh as a captain’s delight “He never complained even after bowling over 30overs in a day. He was such a workaholic that members of the TN state team of the 1990s used to constantly joke ‘Mahesh, you are making up for (your brother) Ramesh.”

“Under my captaincy, both Mahesh and Gokulakrishnan brought ideas, winning culture and attitude. In that phase, their performance in the first division was mind boggling.”

Best years in cricket - 1999/2000

In the first few years of his cricket for TN, he had to bowl on placid tracks or on turners in home matches.

In March 1999, in a match when Madanagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html?m=1) scored 199 in a super league Ranji Trophy match, Mahesh scored his only first class century against Maharastra. He also did well with the ball with three five wicket hauls that season. He performed even better the next season, capturing 37 wickets in Ranji cricket that earned him a call in both the Duleep and Deodhar Trophy.

Opens batting for TN ( Debuted at No. 11!!!)

January 2000 was one of the best months for him in first class cricket. In the last match of the Subbiah Pillai one day tournament, TN had to win early to win the tourney and for the first and only time for TN he was promoted to open the batting (quite something for a man who went No. 11 in his debut match for the state). And he produced a scintillating inning getting to his half century in a record 21 balls. He went on to score 69 in 29 balls as TN chased 130+ in 11overs. 

Gets Viru but appeal rejected

A month earlier, in his first and only Duleep Trophy match, he trapped Virendra Sehwag plumb in front when he was on 70. The umpire negated the appeal to his disbelief. As was his way throughout the 2nd half of his career, he minced no words with Sehwag when he came crossed to the non striker’s end “Kya Bhai Viru. Should you not have walked”. The pilot one that Sehwag, he told Mahesh “If Umpire had given that out, I would have walked off”. Sehwag went on to score 274 and South Zone was knocked out. Mahesh never got another chance in Duleep Trophy. 

Blistering Form in Deodhar Trophy

Deodhar Trophy in January 2000 proved to be a dream run and his fighting spirit was on full display. Mahesh remembers this reason for more reasons than one “There were some former TN players who were gunning for me. They went to the extent of telling the captains for that tournament on keeping me away. That made me even more determined to show what I was capable of.” 

He was promoted to the top of the order as a pinch hitter in the tourney opener against West Zone. He scored 85 in a partnership of 160 with Karnataka’s J Arun Kumar. In the next match he opened with JAK and for the 2nd match in a row he put on a century stand this time in 20overs. Laxmi Ratan Shukla was hailed as the next ‘Kapil Dev’ and he was at his ‘sledging best’ when Mahesh came into bat. Repeatedly Mahesh smashed the ball into the boundary and point his bat at LRS. It was one match when Mahesh’s verbal aggression as well as his powers with the bat was externally visible. 

In the next match, he began by hitting four fours in HS sodhi’s first over of the innings as SZ once again got off to a rollicking start. 

Cricket Politics Again, Yet scores

Finally, the ‘forces’ from TN had their way. After three terrific starts, Mahesh was shunted down the order for the final match of the tournament against North Zone. But like VV Kumar said above, Mahesh could bat anywhere in the order. South Zone slumped to 75/5 and in came Mahesh at No. 7. He was in sublime form in that series. He played yet another blistering knock that his TN teammates and those in the city league had long known him four. Four towering sixers and he posted close to a century stand with Sharath. 

He repeatedly hit straight sixers off the back foot as he showed one day to Venkatesh Prasad well over two decades ago. Sharath remembers the back foot sixers that Mahesh made his own “Mahesh was the only cricketer that any of us from that generation had seen hit back foot sixers down the ground and over the covers. It was hitting of the extraordinary order.” 

K Srikkanth, who played for Pentasoft a couple of years in the first division league acknowledged that he had only seen Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar play those kind of shots after watching yet another of Mahesh’s raging six hitting in a league match. 

Mahesh was among the top run getters nationally that season in the Deodhar Trophy. But he never played another Deodhar Trophy match in his life. In that phase, he played another blazing knock scoring 68 helping TN recover from 60/7 in a Gopalan Trophy match. In Moin Ud Dowla tournament he got Kaluwitharna out second ball.

Quits Indian Bank 

Just as things were looking up on the cricketing front, his employer in the 2nd half of that decade, Indian Bank, was going through a rough patch and he heard rumours of Pink Slips being handed out. He was at the peak of his powers then having just had the best of seasons for Tamil Nadu. The doors at Chemplast or India Cements may still have been open but he chose an unlikely option of the IT firm Pentasoft. The Penta group was coming up then and the expansion plans were a mega affair. For the first time, he played first division league cricket along with his two brothers, S Satish Kumar and S Ramesh. He joined the Penta Group with the assurance that he would be initiated into MainFrame. The finances were lucrative at that time and he was paid many times what he earned at the bank but it was too short lived. 9/11 happened and then for all the hype surrounding the launch and expansion, the Group collapsed in no time and Mahesh was caught in no man’s land. There was no salary for several months. He did not want to go back to Chemplast or India Cements who had previously sought his cricketing services. As he came towards the end of his career, he was suddenly out of job.

A few years earlier, when he was in the peak of his powers, India Pistons had provided him one of the most lucrative offers in the city for a cricketer but he had rejected like the many others that decade. But he was now looking for a work option and India Pistons made him pay the price (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/08/india-pistons-venkataramani.html). 

For a cricketer who had played half a century of first class matches, he was hired at almost half the price of what they had offered him a few years earlier. The memories at the beginning of his college life began to haunt him again.

Final days in cricket - A fortnight with Dhoni

In 2003-04, at the tail end of his first class career, former India Cricketer Aashish Kapoor roped Mahesh in as a professional cricketer for Tripura. It was the year he came in personal touch with MS Dhoni who was playing for Bihar that year. He stayed alongside Dhoni for almost a fortnight as part of the Zonal One day tournament in Jamshedpur. After picking Dhoni's wicket in the opening match, he scored his last memorable knock- a stroke filled 92- of his life with Dhoni’s bat in the final match of the tourney, Captaining and Opening the batting for Tripura A delighted Dhoni gifted him his bat, one that he treasures to this day well over 15 years later. 

Former India Cricketer Karsan Ghavri who watched Mahesh bat that fortnight fought for his inclusion in the East Zone team but Tripura rejected the suggestion citing that he was only a guest player. He began his career fearing being called by the Karnataka Umpire and ended his career with the news that the (East) Zone could not consider him for selection as he performed (only) as a guest!!!

He also counts Sachin Tendulkar personally calling him to bowl to him at the 'nets session in Chennai as one of his memorable moments.

Soon after his retirement from first class cricket, he went to the Himalayas on a trekking expedition, one that he counts among his best experiences in life.

After being in the limelight for over a decade in the glory of high class performance as an all rounder, the post first class phase turned out to be quite a challenging one. He is probably the only first class cricketer from TN from the 1990s who worked full time in a corporate environment for 15 years. He  worked in many different departments from Product Casting to Label Printing, from Production Planning to Billing, Inventory Management to even Accounting. He was also in charge of the After Market Sales which went up from Rs. 4crores when he took over to around Rs. 15crore when he quit in 2017. He was unhappy at the way he was treated durin this phase but like he did during his cricket career, he remained a workaholic and quietly slogged his way for 15 years till he could no more put up with the unfair treatment that he always felt was being meted out to him. Throughout this phase, the mandate had seemed to be to take him to task for rejecting their lucrative offer in the late 1990s. 

Rejects VBC’s offer in 1990s, Heads VB Academy in 2020

He then spent a brief period at the cricket academy at Ramachandra College but fell out with former TN wicket keeper M Sanjay and quit that as well. And then as fate would have it came to him an unlikely offer something he could not have visualised during the lifetime of VBC.

Almost 30 years after he rejected the first big call in the first division from VB Chandrasekar to move to India Cements, he was offered the role of the Head Coach of the VB Cricket Academy by CSK's N Srinivasan (CSK seems to have taken over the management of the VBCA)   soon after the sudden demise of VBC exactly a year ago. Truly, life has come a full circle for S Mahesh. 

The principled lifestyle that he has held on to himself all through the challenges was hugely influenced in his early years by his Azhvaar Tirunagar neighbour Margabandhu, who was a colleague of his father at ANZ Grindlays Bank. Eldest brother S Satish Kumar is now able to connect Mahesh’s principled character from those days in the late 70s and early 80s “Margabandhu Maamaa and his wife were childless and Mahesh spent a lot of time in their house almost as their son. Maamaa was principled and systematic. As a banker, he would never accept gifts, was punctual, systematic and disciplined and very helpful. Before this death, he wrote his huge house off to the Sankara Mutt. Mahesh imbibed all the good qualities of the Maamaa and he was the biggest influence on him during his formative years.” 

He is one of the only 7 seven cricketers in TN’s history of those who had played between 50and 75 first class matches. Had he played for Chemplast or India Cements in the 1990s, he may have catapulted into a different level for he may have mingled with the best of the cricketers at the nets and in the dressing room. Instead, typical of him, he chose a bank that was not known to produce Ranji Cricketers and stayed with them through the peak of his career. 

Through all the challenges during his playing days and after, Mahesh remained his own man, lived by his rules and achieved what no other cricketer in Tamil Nadu believed was possible - Play in the league for a Public Sector Bank in Chennai and you could still play a decade of Ranji Cricket. Mahesh was one in a generation kind of personality. He was distinct in that he did not bow down to anyone and still hasn’t. He played cricket on his own terms in the only way he knew from the time he began as a flood light tennis ball cricketer in his teens. He gave his best in everything he did but refused to go behind anyone for ‘chances’. A cricketing working fulltime in a corporate has been unheard off since the 1990s. Mahesh showcased that one could play for long for the state and then slog it out in a corporate as well. 

Into his late 40s, Mahesh spends a lot of time with street dogs in Avadi feeding them each day of the year, a kindness that has been passed on to him by Margabandhu Maama.