A first class cricketer, Umpire, Match Referee, Treasurer, Selector, Manager, Owner of multiple TNCA league teams, Committee Member and a ‘Globe Trotter’
India Captain Nari Contractor saw him as a good and long term prospect for TN but Politics of the time ensured that he did not play more than one Ranji Match for Madras despite one of the best bowling records in league cricket in the first half of the 1960s
“Ridiculous of the TN Selectors to not consider him for the State” – SBI and TN team mate VV Kumar
In 1963-64, a 27 year old staffer at SBI was spoken alongside the teenaged S Venkataraghavan as one of the two best off spinners in the city. In successive years, he had produced outstanding performances both with the ball and the bat including taking over 100 wickets for SBI in a single season and outshone Venkataraghavan in the first division cricket. A few years prior, he earned laurels from Indian Captain Nari Contractor, who after watching him bowl in Bombay, rated him as one with great potential and likely to play for the state for long. He repeatedly reaped 8 wicket hauls for the bank in those years. He even picked up 12 wickets in a 'one day' first division league match. He performed creditably in his first Ranji match with 3 wickets and 36 runs but a certain turn of events meant it also turned out to be his last and that he never played Ranji cricket for Madras again. An opportunity to play for Kerala in the Ranji Trophy had also been nipped in the bud, earlier and he had to say ‘NO’ to Contractor’s invitation to play in the Times Shield which too may have transformed his cricket life. Here is the story.
Tennis Ball cricket in Kutcheri Road
R Chandrasekaran spent his teenage years at No. 32 Kutcheri Road, a landmark house just two buildings away from the Post Office starting off playing tennis ball cricket in the huge verandah of that house. When he was 15 years old, he began playing cricket for PS High School where his elder brother Nagarajan captained the school team (he played Buchi Babu and for Indian Schools). In 1951, Chandrasekaran played for Madras Schools in the TNCA 2nd division league as a 15 year old. In his last year at PS High, he captained the school to trophies in the inter school tournament.
It was Vivekananda college captain M Suryananarayanan, grandson of Buchi Babu, who initiated the thought of Chandrasekaran getting into Vivekananda College. By the time he was 17, he had begun playing first division league cricket for TUC. Short on money, he could not pay Rs. 25 that was expected from the college players to make it into tournaments and for outstation trips. But he performed outstandingly for the college. He was the best batsman for the Vivekananda college in 1954 and 55. In those early years, he did not have money even to buy cricket shoes and it was Ramanathan, an engineer from Benaras Hindu University (later at Blue Star) who sponsored his cricket shoes in the mid 1950s.In the first year of its initiation, he won the T Srinivasaraghavan scholarship for the best collegiate cricketer.
Roped in by TVS Ratnam for Sundaram Motors
Immediately after graduating from the college, he joined Sundaram Motors, handpicked by (TVS) R Ratnam and worked under the wheels, something he did not particularly enjoy in the eight months there. An extraordinary turn of events in January 1957 within months of him joining the auto firm was to lead him to play alongside the legends of Indian cricket that decade. Former Ranji Player AK Sarangapani, a salesman at Sundaram Motors,organised a practice match between TVS /Sundaram Motors and SBI, one in which Chandrasekaran played for Sundaram Motors. So impressed was the then captain of SBI T Krishnamurthy with his performance that day that he asked Chandrasekaran to write the banking exam (there was no sports quota job at that time). And within two months, Chandrasekaran joined SBI in March of 1957, much to the dislike of Ratnam.
Secure job at SBI, but slows down cricketing growth
While SBI was to provide long term financial security, it dented his cricketing growth in the 2nd half of the 1950s. SBI was in lower division of the TNCA league and thus Chandrasekaran who had already played first division cricket at that time went back to lower division cricket after joining SBI. He lost out on playing 1st division cricket for a few years till SBI made its way to the first division. For Chandrasekaran, as with any middle class family of the time, job stability was important and a bank job provided that. It was not until he was 25 that he played first division cricket again. During this period, he played junior cricket for the state where he also came up against EAS Prasanna of Mysore.
Missing Ranji Trophy for Kerala
He also played for RS Puram Cricket Club in the Tripanathura Tournament and performed exceedingly well to help the Coimbatore club win the tourney. So impressed was the secretary of the Kerala cricket association that he asked Chandrasekaran to take a (bank) transfer to Kerala so he could play for the state in the Ranji Trophy. His outstanding form at that time would have made him an automatic choice for the state. Had he made the move, he could have easily played for several years for Kerala in the Ranji Trophy. Unfortunately SBI refused to provide him the transfer for they wanted him to play in the local league and the tournaments here.
His Best Phase in Cricket and the Frustration!!!
The first half of the 1960s proved to be his best period in cricket and paradoxically also one with extreme disappointments.
The tall and lean mustachioed Chandrasekaran performed extraordinarily well for SBI in all tournaments and received rave reviews. Soon after SBI Madras met Bombay in the final of the All India State Bank tournament Indian captain Nari Contractor was so impressed with Chandrasekaran that he said that 'Madras had found a good off spinner and one with great potential."
Lets go an Opportunity in Bombay
Not just that, he wanted Chandrasekaran to play in the Times Shield Tournament that immediately followed the inter circle tourney. Unfortunately for Chandrasekaran, it coincided with the Sport and Pastime tourney (The Hindu Trophy) in Madras and his Bank did not permit him to go Bombay, even though the invitation came from none other than the Indian captain. Had he gone and played under Contractor, his cricketing life may have taken a different turn. But it was not to be. It was also around that time when he received a big offer from Parrys & Co following his star performances with the bat and ball but SBI did not permit him to leave convincing him of good prospects at the bank.
Ranji Debut and Farewell!!!
He took 54 wickets in 11 matches in the first division league in 1961-62. In the next year, he topped the bowling averages ahead of the upcoming S Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html) and Kripal Singh, who cherished ambitions of playing for the country as an all rounder (a batsman who could bowl spin). In 62-63, he easily took more wickets in the first division than these two and claimed over a 100 wickets for SBI in all forms of cricket that year. With the bat, he had scored 8 centuries for SBI including 176 against a very strong Bombay State Bank and was clearly an all rounder who could excel in both. He also received the award for the Best Performance in the Sport and Pastime tourney.
He once picked up 12 wickets in a single day, quite a rare achievement in a one day TNCA first division league match, picking up 7wickets in the first innings and then picking up 5 in the 2nd innings to bowl out Crom Best twice in a day. Everyone that followed TN cricket expected him to go a long way. However, what followed was tragic and left him bitterly disappointed and frustrated at that time.
After being in the state reserves for almost two years, he finally got his chance in Ranji Trophy cricket in the final match of the 1962-63 season and had what one could call a ‘successful debut’ picking up three wickets and scoring 36.
After being the leading wicket taker and one with the best average in successive years in first division cricket in the city, an unfortunate turn of events led him to never play for the State again in Ranji Trophy. He was not in the original squad for the Ranji Matches in the next season. On the day the Madras players were schedule to leave by train for a Ranji Match, he received a call at 9am from S Sriraman, Hony. Secretary, TNCA asking him to pack his cricketing bag and head to the Central Railway Station as it had been suddenly decided to include him in the squad as a replacement.
Says NO to Sriraman
That call is still vivid in Chandrasekaran’s memory "My mother was unwell and I had to be by her bedside to take care of her health. I explained to Sriraman the scenario at home. Unfortunately a ‘NO’ to Sriraman did not go well with the powers that be."
It was also in this phase that SBI organised a tournament for first division clubs in the city in an endeavour to provide more opportunities to players. Chandrasekaran anchored the organising of this tournament. He remembers the backlash "Sriraman was clearly unhappy with SBI organising a tournament in the city. We clearly indicated to them that this was to provide more playing opportunities to the cricketers in the city. As I was the man doing the work on the ground, I was targeted and my hopes of playing for the state were dashed."
Frustrated at not being considered for the Ranji Trophy after outstanding performance in 3-4 successive years in the first division league, Chandrasekaran stood for the post of the Treasurer of the TNCA (then MCA) in June 1964 leaving Sriraman stunned. It turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for Chandrasekaran for he was never considered for Madras again in Ranji Trophy cricket. His refusal to join the Ranji squad when his mother was ill, the organising of the inter club tournament in the city and him standing for the Treasurer's post combined to ensure that he would never be considered again. These series of events brought a premature end to his Ranji career, almost before it started!!!
Ridiculous Selection Committee
Legendary leg spinner VV Kumar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/07/cricket-tales-exclusive-with-vv-kumar.html) was a year senior to him at PS High School and knew him from his days as a teenager. He captained Chandrasekaran at SBI and was a good foil for him as the two bowled in tandem through the 1960s and 70s. He also used to drive Chandrasekaran to his office on his two wheeler every morning in the 1960s. He says that it was ridiculous of the TN selection committee to not consider him despite strong performances in the first division league “Chandru was an automatic choice in the All India State Bank team that comprised of international bowlers. He took wickets in the first division league and in all other tournaments for SBI. Why the TN selectors never considered him against after a strong Ranji debut and consistent performance in the league defeats any logic. He was not given the rightful chances.”
VV Kumar says that Chandru should have competed more vigorously after finding that the selectors were not considering him and leaving him out deliberately “He should have fought his way back into the team but maybe he was frustrated that the selectors continued to ignore him despite strong performances in the league.”
Stars for All India SBI in Ceylon
In August 1966, he was selected for the All India State Bank team that was to tour Ceylon for a series of matches against a strong Prime Minister’s XI in Colombo. Chief of SBI N Ramanand Rao who was the transformative sporting force at the bank and who roped in cricketers and made them the cricketing force that they were in the 60s and 70s wrote of the team that went to Ceylon “Our team blends enthusiasm with experience and includes a number of promising young cricketers in addition to Test Stars.”
The bank team comprised of top Indian and Ranji Trophy players including Wadekar, Goel and VV Kumar. Bowling alongside star bowlers such as VV Kumar and Rajender Goel against the likes of Michael Tissera and Stanley Jayasinghe, Chandrasekaran picked up 4 wickets in the match.
Ramanand Rao would come to the ground and watch every match of SBI and he landed up one rainy morning at the house of Chandrasekaran and asked him as to what he was doing at home on a match day. When he remarked that the match was likely to be rained off as the rain had been rather heavy, the Chief told him that the game would definitely start with the groundsmen at work. He drove him to the match and watched Chandrasekaran pick up 8 wickets after lunch to help the bank win against Bunts. When the newspaper headlined the next day as Chandrasekaran helping SBI win, the Chief joking remarked that that it was his role in driving him to the ground that helped the bank record the victory.
Frustration leads to Umpiring
By the mid 1960s, Chandrasekaran realized that the politics at work was too strong and he accepted the fact that he would not be considered for the state. It was the frustration of being ignored despite extraordinary performances that led him to take to umpiring. The umpiring fee for a match was just Rs. 3 that decade when he started out. A ticket for umpires for the pongal test was a big motivation. One had to umpire a certain number of matches before January to be eligible for this ‘umpire’s ticket’. In the early 70s, there was invitation to him to appear for the BCCI Umpiring exam but as with other cricketing events in his life in the previous decade, he was away in Europe at that time and missed out on progressing ahead in his umpiring life.
From Cricket to Banking focus
Once he reconciled that the TNCA had shut out his cricket for non cricketing reasons, he began to focus on his work at the bank. In 1966, he was promoted as an officer. He also passed exams such as CAIIB, Diploma in Industrial finance. Shortly after, when he was in foreign exchange department, he came in contact with many overseas visitors who made a trip to India in their two wheelers. That inspired him and triggered the thought in him to try and see if he too could do an overseas trip on a two wheeler.
To Europe on Lamby
Lambretta was in great demand that decade. He approached the firm to see if they could hand out a few Lambys to him and his three friends for this overseas trip. They could not give it free but did an out of turn delivery of three Lambys. In the summer of 1971, Chandrasekaran along with PVH Babu, GV Venugopal and R Lakshmanan went on a three month 7000kms 15 countries European trip via Bombay, Kuwait and London. The globetrotting trip of 1971 was repeated in 1974 with his footballer brother Mohanakrishnan and KRS Mani (SBI). Cho Ramaswamy helped him raised funds for the trips by organizing a special edition of his then popular Mohammad Bin Tuglagh. KS Narayanan of India Cements too helped him on those two trips as did his classmate A Krishnamurthy of Simpsons.
Names his new league team in Euro Tour memory
This Globe Trotting led Chandrasekaran to name his new league team in 1975 as Globe Trotters (introduced into the league after winning the Ranga Rao Trophy), a team that went up to the first division in five straight years under the captaincy of G Srinivasan. VB Chandrasekar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html) played for Globe Trotters when he was just 16. In the 1980s, for over 5 years, he handed the team to Udumalpet SVPB’s Soundararajan to run Globe Trotters ( https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html) in the first division league.
Soon after, Venkataraghavan came to him and requested him to hand over the team permanently to MRF (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-architect-behind-worlds-best.html) which he did.
After his globetrotting experience, Chandrasekaran began taking a combined squad from here to overseas destinations for a 10 day cricketing tour to play against leading local clubs in Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, USA and even the Maldives. In May 1973, he went on a trip to Kuala Lumpur with players such as Hanumant Singh, Ambar Roy, GRV, SMH Kirmani, AG Milkha Singh, Abdul Jabbar and his brother R Prabhakar.
Top cricketers from Karnataka including AV Jayaprakash, B Vijayakrishna, G Kasturi Rangan, B. Raghunath, PR Ashok Anand, BS Viswanath and Narayana Raju were part of the trips to the UK and the Far East. P Mukund, VBC, M Subramaniam and D Padmanabhan too were part of these tours from TN.
Karnataka Cricketers the most respectful
Looking back on the overseas tour, Karnataka batsman and BCCI Umpire AV Jayaprakash says ‘Chandrasekaran showed me the world’. It was a phase when legendary leggie BS Chandrasekar was the room mate of R Chandrasekaran on cricketing trips. R Chandrasekaran considers the cricketers from Karnataka as being most respectful in their conduct ‘Even the top most cricketers from the state including some who played for the country would fall at my feet when they met me as I was many years senior in age. They have been like this for several decades. The cricketing success just did not get on to their head and the big cricketers from Karnataka have remained unchanged in the way they have interacted over a long period of time, even after they played state cricket for two decades and cricket for India.'
MCC v Combined XI at Chepauk
During that phase, Chandrasekaran also put together combined teams to play practice matches against MCC on Saturday afternoons. There was stiff competition to figure in that Combined XI for it was a great experience for many who had hitherto never played at Chepauk. An added incentive was the tiffin and coffee at MCC at the end of the match.
In the mid 90s, Chandrasekaran was the treasurer of the TNCA for a couple of years when Ashok Kumbhat was the Secretary and was also team manager of TN. In the 1980s and 90s and later as well, and long before the ICA (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/07/ica-on-track.html) came into being, he was vocal on the changes needed in the system and wrote several letters to the BCCI pitching for changes for the betterment of the system and for the players to be taken care of, better including pension to players who had played less than 25matches. And he continues to engage with the likes of Ashok Malhotra (the ICA President) sharing ideas.
A Celebrated Life
Octogenarian Chandrasekaran has had a truly celebrated life. A First Class Cricketer, Umpire, Match Referee, Treasurer, Scorer, Selector, Manager, Owner of multiple TNCA league teams, committee member at the TNCA and a Globe Trotter who took teams many times overseas on cricket trips. He should have easily played more matches for the state but non cricketing reasons led him to be discarded for ever. He could have played many for Kerala but his bank refused to grant him a transfer. Despite terrific performances in the league, Chandrasekar had many disappointments and frustrating moments in cricket in the 1960s but he saw the downturns as part of one’s life and took it in his stride. He turned a great admininstrator making personal globe trotting trips along with colleagues, running cricket clubs in the city and organising cricketing tours that offered several cricketers opportunities to play overseas. In 2010, aged 75, he took a team comprising of teenagers to Colombo to play a series of matches such has been his passion for the game. At a point of time in his life, Chandrasekaran ran four league teams in the city – Globe Trotters, Rising Stars, BRC and Magnet. He continues to run Magnet Cricket Club in the TNCA league to this day.
If he had not joined SBI, he may have ended up as a salesman at Sundaram Motors. Instead he enjoyed well over a decade of playing with the who’s who of Indian cricket. He played first division cricket for SBI for 15 years at the peak alongside the likes of the non controversial SVS Mani (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/07/svs-mani-cricketer-selector-coach.html) when they won several championships, rose to the level of AGM at the bank and remained a strong contributor to the bank throughout his career. Several 100s of wickets for SBI in the early 1960s could not earn him more than one Ranji Match and he was hugely disappointed at the decision of the TNCA to keep him away from Ranji Trophy matches but at 85 he is proud that he came out of that and continued his association with cricket in various capacities for another 45 years .
Truly an outstanding personality.
50 comments:
Wow! So much info I did not know! Very proud of my uncle's achievements.Luck did not favour him A great human being ever willing to help others.I pray for his good health and peaceful life.
Nice article. Unlucky Chandru.
A brilliant cricketer and administrator. I was fortunate to play for 3 of his teams, Globe trotters from 4th divn till we went to the 1st divn, along with TS Mukund, K Arunkumar, late VB Chandrashekar, L Sivaramakrishnan and many other youngsters. RC (sir)as he was known to us, along with Late KRS Mani sir,had the magnanimity to provide the best of cricketing kit to all of us at Globe trotters...youngsters' dream it was to be playing with bats like St.Peters,Stuart and Surridge,Duncan Fearnly, Gray Nicholls, Slazenger and the likes. Truly memorable. If it was KRS Mani sir who would coordinate with boys and the matches, RC sir was the quiet man behind the scene, who arranged all these without any fuss.
I am also fortunate to have played for Rising Stars elevating it to 3rd divn. and contributed in bringing Magnet CC to the league status.
It is sad to learn now as to what went through in his cricketing days, that scuttled his progress.
A wonderful gentleman who was economical with words, but believed in action.
May God bless him with peaceful and healthy days.
Ur uncle is my uncle too!! I am proud of him and proud to be his niece too :)
One of the saddest of cases in TN cricket๐ญ Very capable person - potential not utilised ...
According to me he is my first Guru followed by T.S Viswanathan and Mahadevan when i was ignored in Tnca sub junior selection he has releived me from BRC run by Chandrusir and ultimately played for Friends Eleven Then i got selected by Chandru for Colts and proved my selection worth by scoring 75against Districts made an enroute to the elevation and got a job in S.B.I The helping tendency is more for chandru and also he expects when it really worth Myself G.A Pratapkumar and A. V Mahalingam wont forget chandru till last breadth I got an opportunity when he lead the SBI
Another wonderful article, from our very own Neville Cardus.
Excellent article Prabhu.
Prabhu,
Nice article. Clearly, you have done justice by writing about a great sportsman whom the system did not support. In spite of the setbacks, his achievements eventually were great.
Regards
you are a great writer making us to read with interest due to your excellent narrative. Good that you write about such unsung heroes. This gentleman has to blame only his fate for not going up the ladder, even though he had the talent, thanks to the petty politics that haunt not only cricket but also other games and sports in our country.
regards
Happened to read you blog on R.Chandru which was forwarded to me by a friend of mine. It made good reading. I played against him in the early 70’s when I turned up for MRC “A” & IOB. He was a wily bowler who kept you guessing akways. It was sheer politics that kept him out of big time cricket & TNCA was impregnable at that time. I often see him clad in dhoti, shopping for vegetables in E. Mada st. with people around unaware of his stature. I never fail to offer my respects to him.
Rocko Sundar
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Sir I was fortunate to play in 3 of his teams, Gt though was a substitute for one match, was part of promoting Vigneswara for 2nd division. He and KRS เฎฎเฎฃி sir were guardian angels for aspiring cricketers. He gave the new ball in my debut match at Marina,(magnet) Though I was a off break bowler, I was clueless since it was not common to start an innings with new ball so started boiling medium pace and then informed chandru sir about this. He encouraged so much and gave chance to bowl off breaks too. I can't forget the chappathi and thair sadam provided as lunch.
Upendran R
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Thank you. Very nicely written. You must feel proud of the blog.
I also came to know lot of information which I was not aware of. Thank you.
Hello Sir, This is S. Arun - I had the privilege of knowing you and playing for Globe Trotters in both second and first divisions, under your and Ganpa’s captaincies. It was heartening to read about your achievements in the field. Wishing you many, many more years of happy retired life with near and dear ones. Regards to your family and to Prabhakar’s. I now live in California. Hope to see you the next time I visit.
Says NO to Sriraman
That call is still vivid in Chandrasekaran’s memory "My mother was unwell and I had to be by her bedside to take care of her health. I explained to Sriraman the scenario at home. Unfortunately a ‘NO’ to Sriraman did not go well with the powers that be."
Kudos to you. I do not want to elaborate. “YOUR SELF RESPECT IS IN TACT”.
I was a crazy followers of your bowling and batting as a student of Vivekananda and lived all through Mylapore.
Very interesting article. What the power that be of cricketing fraternity fails to recognise a dashing meritorious cricketer, you won the hearts of several cricketers and human beings . Here we place on record the hardest way you fought to sustain yourself in the field of cricket , with unparalleled history of par excellence which could be matched by none other than you. The roads are bumpy you can't have smooth ridings since you hve to cross many hurdles. But you took everything on your strides finally found light at the end of a tunnel.
However we now wish you a smooth peaceful with Avery long healthy life.
God bless you, sir.
Bye
KNS seek your blessings since you are elder to us all.
Awesome performance ๐๐๐
It was a great illustration of your splendid performance throughout. Kudos to you, Sir.
unforgettable trip . surely.
Super ! Kudos
xcellent article, though belated. Not many cricketers know about your exploits on and off the field, so, it's a good tribute. I've heard of you as a boy as my late grandfather V P R, Jaggu maama and my own uncle and father have spoken at length. Sad that a person who would have walked into more powerful and Ranji Trophy winning teams played a solitary match for TN.......
Dear Chandru, This arti culates your great qualities and your perseverance and dedication are rare qualities not seen nowdays.I pray God to give you peace and good health.Paddhu(Tyagu,s classmate)
Iam A.S krishnan Ipray God to bless with good health I know your organizing ablities inconducting foregin tours I had the pleasure of touring with you to singapore andbankong Even inofficial capacity youhave. helped lot ofpeople to get promotions. Iused toadmire you from distance I know your relationship with babu and Raghavan In earlydays your contribution tothegame is unbelievable Take care your health
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Extremely well deserved tribute to my valued friend.
I had the privilege of knowing him closely and working with him in SBI
Nice blog and great comments thoroughly deserve every bit of it sir. All that I remember was the 23 state match in Chennai when you were our manager at cheapauk, you asked me to lead the team on the morning of the game against Hyderabad. I don't know what prompted you to do that but eventually we won that game outright and reached the finals. Nice human
Lovely note uncle, you have contributed greatly to cricket.
Was a wonderful read Sir. Could easily understand your trials and tribulations that you had to go through in your young days as a Cricketer. Definitely you should have played at least a dozen seasons for the State and beyond for all those outstanding performances of yours.....feel sorry for the way you have been treated by the Cricket officialdom of your times....๐
Super chithappa :)
All rounder๐
It was very nice to read about you sir Hats of to you l really happy to know ๐๐๐Jai Sairam
Very nice ๐
Hi uncle, read the article. What an early end to a promising career :(
A tribute to a legend sir so happy sir
One of the best articles I have read
Ganesh, Russia.
A great article of a great and worthy cricketer.
Dr.Srinivasan, Salem.
Very nicely written blog about your life events
We all know y deserved more in your cricketing days do not worry enjoy your days
Good Sir Great Sir Hats off to your efforts even it went unsupported and not encouraged / not recognised.
Lovely interesting blog.A memorable life to be celebrated.rkraghavan
Wow! Nostalgic! I used to read in newspaper your and Prabhakar's cricket when I was in school and college!
Dear Chandru,
Only today- thanks to unceasing rain all through the day- I read without distractions the detailed writeup about your long innings @ SBI and a longer innings on the cricket field.
Let me at the outset say hats �� off for your outstanding excellence in your professional career as much as on the cricket field, both on and off. You certainly fit into the Galaxy of �� �� ������stars who excelled not only as Cricketers but also as successful Managers @ SBI like Wadekar, VV, Hanumanth Singh, our own Milka. Fantastic.
The lengthy write up about you, the photos on your retirement from SBI are evidences of your popularity, proven testimonials to your unquestionable achievements - not many can boast of.
I feel lucky and privileged to have had the opportunity to get to know you personally & played with you( as an opponent) although my tenure at Madras with Parrys was short ( 1966-70). Even to this day I the image of flowing smooth bowling action of very effective off- spinner called RC is still very vivid in my mind & memory!
I am indeed truly happy that the affinity created by cricket has helped me reunite with a person like you for whom I have always had great respect & admiration.
Wishing you continued long innings with happiness accompanied with good health.
Regards,
Sreedhar M R
Amazing story, Prabhu !!
And someone rightly called you, "our own Neville Cardus".
Look forward to the next :-)
iyengars( sriraman) does like that
So happy to read so much written about you Chandru Maama....Being SPS's (Parry) nephew and a staff of Shanti Vihar Guptaji, I had the oppurtunity to play the First year for Globe Trotters but we let you down by poor performance. Kudos to you, you relentlessly kept going at it and the next year itself you brought the team into TNCA league alongwith Prasad CC ( Mr. Nanda Kumar)...Those were great days....Being with Mani Mama and sometimes staying in his house, we were so close to your entire family and I was so happy Prabakar uncle played quite a bit for Tamilnadu in Ranji Trophy.. In fact I was in Trivandrum with my parents when he scored a blistering 126 against Kerala against that famous C K Bhaskar.....
Very sad to note your Son died yesterday....Then only started googling about you and remembering my school days in 90, Kutcheri Road, being so close to one and all in your family...
You are great despite all the stupid politics of TNCA which was never able to bring great talent into the India Team.....so sad...
Ravi, Ramesh and Bobji.....
Chandrasekar not only helped R S Puram Cricket Club to win Puja knovk out trophy,also helped them to beat the strong RCC (RecreatiionCricket Club) in the finals of Rhondy Shield. These two were the strongest teams in Coimbatore those days. I have seen him playing with Sixer Rocky Raghavan, J R Maruthi and B Subrahmanyam ( a great fast bowler). Needless to say that RS Puram won only with the help of these imported players.
He was an amazing human being.. he made sure lot of people continue to smile even after he is gone… i wish he is happy wer ever he has gone.. :(
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