R Madhavan TN Cricketer 1980s

A look back at 60

The only Cost and Chartered Accountant Ranji Cricketer from TN was on the verge of Indian Selection in the winter of 1984 when in a 15 month phase he scored almost 6 centuries but was overlooked despite an ‘unwritten’ promise 

One should look at a 5-10 year plan for TN cricket that would help identify, create and groom potentially talented cricketers to help them scale up to the next level - and hopefully national duties - TN Selector Madhavan told this writer in Sept 2007. It has remained an unfulfilled dream

Earlier this week, this section featured the story of a Chartered Accountant (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/abhishek-r-india-table-tennis-star.html) who had risen to the national level in Table Tennis only to quit the sport at 24 choosing Taxation and Auditing as his life’s priority ‘unsure’ about the long term career path in that sport. This tale is about another CA who will turn 60 this fortnight, one who was on the brink of an India debut, long ago in cricket. In September 2007, as a State Selector, he spoke cheerfully to this writer on the need to chalk a ten year developmental programme for TN cricket. But after his sudden quitting as the Chairman of TN State selection committee, he completely shut his eyes and ears from cricket such has been the ‘cricketing’ wound. This only Cost and Chartered Accountant State cricketer has refused to talk any cricket let alone relive the memories of those ‘glory cum shattering’ months of 1984 when he was just one step away from proudly wearing the ‘India Cap’. 

Here’s the story. 

It was December of 1983. This writer had just moved to Bangalore ahead of one of the most remarkable recoveries in TN’s cricket history. In fact, earlier in the year, the writer had listened through the night to Suresh Saraiaya and Ravi Chaturvedi describing one of Test Cricket’s greatest batting recoveries (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/cricket-tales-12-memorable-cricket.html) when West Indies after being rocked back losing 3wickets down for 1 run at Port of Spain hit back with two southpaws scoring centuries to help take a big lead. And at the KSCA stadium were two southpaws (one lean like the West Indian No. 4 of that year and the other a stocky figure like the West Indian Captain) scoring centuries from an identical situation to help the state to a huge first innings score. It was brilliance of one of these lefthanders in his early 20s that drove the recovery and made everyone take notice as one for the future. 

In the 15months that followed this match, he was in as good a patch of form as any TN batsman in its history (reminding one of the form that KR Rajagopal had been in just over 15years earlier). Performing against a touring country has always been a challenge for TN cricketers. On the back of his strong performances that year in domestic cricket, he had been informally told that a century in the international tour match would land him a place in the Indian team for the test series against England. And he responded with almost three centuries in a fortnight including a brilliant one against the touring English. The performances should have got him into the Indian middle order for that series that saw LS’s best Test performance. Unfortunately, the ‘unwritten’ promise was broken and he was overlooked. And the rest as it’s so often said is history. Azhar scored three successive centuries in that series and the TN lefthander was never the same again. 

From a historical Temple Town 

R. Madhavan hailed from Raaja Mannargudi, a historical temple town that is home to the handsome Raaja Gopalaswamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/05/mannargudi-rajagopalaswamy-temple.html). In the early part of the 20th century, like many of the traditional inhabitants, his grandfather moved away from the town that is famous for its 18 day Brahmotsavam and boasts one of the biggest tanks among the temples in Tamil Nadu. 

And thus Madhavan grew up in a city based environment through the formative years of his life. He was 6years when he first started playing cricket in the mid 1960s with the neighborhood boys behind Nehru Park on Poonamalle high road. League cricket at 12 for Egmore Excelsiors and the one at school was rather quiet and he went largely unnoticed. The most distinctive feature in those early years was the presence of his father, Rangachari, at every match (a decade later, S Sriram’s matches during his school days was marked by the presence of his grandfather). 

Makes a mark at Loyola 

Madhavan came to the cricketing limelight for the first time in 1977-78 season with strong performances for Loyola College and Madras University. Leg Spinner and team mate at Loyola K Venugopal (former Editor of The Hindu Business Line) recalls Madhavan’s entry into the college team and his contribution in the final “Everything about Madhavan was simple when he joined the Loyola cricket team in 1977. He was the frail lad who brought his thayir saadham along to the game. He was indeed so frail that many of us thought a strong wind might endanger his stability on the field. Yet he had enormous cricketing talent, his ball sense, his elegant left handed batting and fine sense of timing made up for the lack of muscular build. His father was often his ardent moral support at the ground. Madhu, as he was known, was a sincere and honest young cricketer as any you could find.” 

          The winning Loyola Team - Feb 1978

“Loyola won the Madras University inter-collegiate tournament for the Duncan Trophy in February 1978 with Madhavan making 67 runs in Loyola’s score of 293 in the final. The young Madhavan had made his mark and Loyola won that trophy after a gap of four years.” 

Successive Centuries in Univ cricket 

He scored centuries in the Semi Finals and Finals of the Rohinton Baria, a tournament that his teammate and SVPB’s opener of the 1970s and 80s S Sukumar remembers “He batted as well as anyone in the tournament and scored successive centuries. Much like his name sake (NP Madhavan), he was very soft spoken and his conduct on and off the field was exemplary even in those early years.” 

                                   S Sukumar, SVPB

That characteristic of Madhavan has remained firm to this day. His words measured and sentences beautifully crafted are skills that were shaped by a Loyola College lecturer who made a real impression on the teenager Madhavan. While he refuses to engage with this writer on cricketing communication (he did not participate in this story) there is a touch of class about his email exchanges on topics outside of cricket (mostly temples) something he attributes to a sort of fetish to try to make his communication clear and precise. 

A couple of years later he once again showcased his class with a century for City Colleges against Alwarpet a team that he was to play for a major part of the next decade. 

The turn of the decade and coming of age of a new Southpaw 

1980-81 was a big year for Madhavan, one that helped his push for a place in the TN middle order. Another fluent left hander, K Balaji, son of The Hindu’s legendary editor G Kasturi, (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-blossoming-cricket-career-was-cut.html) had just quit Ranji cricket aged just 24 disgruntled with the way the team was being led and that created an opening in the middle order. 

Madhavan made a strong case for that spot scoring over 550 runs in the inter university tourney, one in which Madras University lost to Bombay in the Semi Finals. Madhavan scored 90 against Mafatlal in 1981 and a century against Nirlon the following year in the then Prestigious Buchi Babu tournament, knocks that earned him laurels from Sunil Gavaskar. On the back of these knocks, he finally made it to the TN team and almost scored a century on Ranji debut against Hyderabad in December 1982. 

His Best Ranji knock 

In the winter of 1983, the year that India won the World Cup, this writer’s father had a surprise middle of the year transfer to Bangalore just ahead of the Ranji Season opener for TN at the KSCA, one where Madhavan was to play his best Ranji innings. It marked the beginning of a glorious 15 month run when he scored almost 6 centuries. 

Madhavan was S Vasudevan’s roommate in many a Ranji match and the TN Ranji Trophy winning captain particularly remembers this match against Karnataka for he (Vasudevan) was dropped soon after “Madhu was young and energetic at that time and bubbling with enthusiasm. He was a jolly character and ever smiling. While cricket was a passion and a full time professional career in the sport was not yet an option in those days, he cherished the dream of playing for the zone and the country. But at the same time, he was aware that one was always on tenterhooks, with most (cricketers) not knowing how long it would last. Not everything was in our hands.” 

Madhavan was to realize that in the 12months that followed!!! 

That morning, TN lost both its openers before opening its tally. Soon after Madhavan walked in, he lost ‘Test Cricketer’ TE Srinivasan leaving TN tottering at 3/3. The team was in dire straits within the first half hour and this brought the best out of him that day. Madhavan scored a delightful century, one that brought him into the national limelight. 

S Srinivasan, who had made his Ranji debut for Bombay earlier, partnered with Madhavan helping TN recover from the dreadful start. He remembers Madhavan from that century partnership “He was technically very sound and gritty. His temperament came to the fore against Karnataka and showed the mettle he was made of. He scored runs when it really mattered. It was his century that helped us recover that day.” 

The Best Cricketing Year 

A couple of months later in Feb’84, the best year (as well as probably the most disappointing of his life!!!!) of his cricket, he made another century. Still not 25, he was clearly in the Selector’s shortlist as a man for the future. And when he began the next season in October with a 95 in the Duleep Trophy match against West Zone, he seemed to be just one step away from his Test Debut. In the Ranji opener against Hyderabad in mid November, he struck another century. 

He had made four Ranji centuries and the Duleep Trophy 95 in just over three quarters of a year - an unprecedented performance for a TN middle order batsman in the state’s cricketing history. 

Score a Century against England and you are in!!! 

Those informal ‘famous’ words from the powers that be probably remain to haunt him close to four decades later and is probably one of the reasons for him to not discuss cricket from the past. He was told that if he continued in his rich vein of form and scored a century against the David Gower’s English team, he would be picked for the Indian test team for the winter’s series. Tamil Nadu fast bowler of the 1970s B Kalyanasundaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/08/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram.html) had joined LMW in the later part of the decade and had moved to Coimbatore. He was on an official tour to Ahmedabad that week in November 1984 and remembers wishing Madhavan well on the eve of the match though he himself did not stay back to watch the match. 

Playing for India U25s, Madhavan responded with a brilliant century against England, one that should have got him into the Indian team had the ‘word’ of the fortnight been kept. Exactly three years ago, his TN teammate K Srikkanth had played two blistering knocks for India U22 against the same touring English team and was rewarded for that performance with an India debut against England in the winter of 1981 and he went on to play for India for over a decade. Madhavan’s domestic performances of the year and the century against England should have been enough to get him into the squad. Almost 6 centuries in under a year was as good as it had been for any TN player in its history but despite the ‘reward for performance’ promise, it turned out to be a case of ‘so near and yet so far’ for Madhavan. 

Mohd Azharuddin followed his century in this match with a twin century for Hyderabad in December in a Ranji match and was picked for the England series. With three successive centuries, Azhar sealed his batting spot in the Indian middle order and Madhavan was never to come back into contention again. He scored another century that season in the Ranji Trophy and ended up with close to 500runs but really the bus had flown past him without a stopover. 

A shattered feeling ‘inside’ 

Srinivasan, who also watched Madhavan post his highest Ranji score in February 85 just a few months after the century against England, recalls the let down feeling of that 1984-85 season “Any human being who experienced that would have been shattered. He scored when and where it counted and yet he was not considered. If I had been in his position and were to look back at it now, I would be hugely disappointed with the non selection. Centuries mattered in those days and he came up with those. What more could he have done that year.” 

Srinivasan remembers the words of Madhavan from the time “It is all part of life. You have to move on”. While he did not show the disappointment externally at that time, I am sure it would have hurt a lot inside to not be picked after such an outstanding year in domestic cricket and after the century against England, says Srinivasan. 

Like Vasudevan, Srinivasan too says that Madhavan saw cricket as too much of a gamble and hence strengthened his academics “He was always skeptical of cricket as a career and the path it offered, for he saw one’s future as always being in the hands of the ‘selectors’.” 

Finance Professional – CA and CMA 

With the shattering experience of having been ‘let down’, Madhavan was never the same again in cricket. In 1985, he completed his CA Inter (he had completed the Cost Inter by then). In the years that followed, he completed both his CA and CMA Final. Cricketing wise, he just did not recover. For the first time in his life, in that phase, he tried to come to terms with cricket and the external factors and circumstances that decide one’s cricketing fate. If one did not get the rub of the green at his peak, many times it is likely that the form may not return again in one’s cricketing life. Madhavan found his peak in 1984 with a middle order consistency that almost none from TN had till then. 

In the second half of the 1980s, Madhavan made runs aplenty in the first division league for Alwarpet. In the English Summer, he played two years of professional cricket in the Scottish league . Arjan Kripal Singh, who made a triple hundred for TN against Goa in 1989, was a budding teenage cricketer when he met Madhavan for the first time. He remembers the season distinctly for he watched the best of Madhavan in those few months in the first division league “Madhu had missed the initial part of the league season having played cricket in Scotland and came back full of energy. In the 8 matches that remained that season, he scored 6 hundreds and 2 fifties.” 

A most ‘genuine’ human being 

While that was Madhavan at his vintage best, Arjan experienced the human side of him that he is grateful for three decades later “He went out of the way to create an opportunity for me in Scotland and got me my first overseas contract. While you would attribute helping tendency to many in your life, Madhu was in the most ‘genuine’ category. He was a great student of the game and one of the most intelligent cricketers I have met in my life. Often, he went out of the way to instill the confidence in me and helped me perform to the best of my ability. He would constantly come and sit next to you and provide inputs that would transform your game.” 

One really did not get too many mentors like him in those days in TN cricket. 

When Arjan arrived in Scotland and mentioned the name of Madhavan to the cricketing community there, he was stunned at their response “It was three decades ago and a most difficult time for Indians in the UK. A mere mention of his name and the respect for me shot up dramatically. Even opponents remembered him both as a cricketer, who won matches, and as a gentleman human being. Very few have gone to the UK and succeeded. Madhu held his own even in Scotland not just in cricket but in societal life as well.” 

A flavor of Javed Miandad in his batting 

India U19 left arm fast bowler from the 1980s Hemant Srivatsa, owner of the renowned Murrays Auction (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/04/hemant-srivatsa-cricketer-of-1980s.html) played first division cricket for Alwarpet as a teenage Vidya Mandir School boy and was in the team for 7 years, a phase when he watched Madhavan every day from close quarters. Frustrated with the way cricket was run in the city, Hemant too quit cricket when he was just 22 having joined Alwarpet when Madhavan was in the form of his life. 

He remembers Madhu as ‘one of the most gentlemen cricketers’ he played with or met in those 7 years. “He was what I would call a ‘Mr. Genius’ in cricket. Each time, I watched him bat in those years I was reminded of the legendary Javed Miandad. Without ever being noticed, he would have moved on to 30-40runs in no time without too many boundaries. Every knock of his was an education to a budding cricketer on how to gather runs. He played the ball late and had a delectable way of finding the gaps in the field. He was a real master class.” 

“When I joined the team as a 15year old and having seen me bowl in the nets, he called me his ‘Kid Brother’ and took me under his tutorship. He was the constant guiding force during my stint at Alwarpet.” 

Responsible for all of Sanku's big knocks

VV Sankapani was the opening partner of K Srikkanth for almost a decade at Alwarpet and was regarded by the late PK Dharmalingam as one who was more dangerous than Srikkanth. Sanku credits Madhavan as both the best captain he played under as well as the one who made him convert rapid starts at the top of the innings into big knocks “Every time I was getting into an over aggressive frame of mind, Madhu would help me get a single and push me into the non striker’s end. Many times in my stint at Alwarpet, it was he who helped me convert my aggressive starts into centuries. Without him at the other end, it is likely I would have continued with over aggression and lost my wicket going for another six.” 

Behind every big knock of Sankapani, in that phase, there was Madhavan’s hand at play. 

While he played a great role in the lives of city cricketers in that phase, his own Ranji career took a Southward curve in the second half of the 80s with him trying to straddle between the preparation for the final of the CA and CMA examinations and State cricket. While the newly appointed captain, Vasudevan, backed him at the start of the 87-88 season, Madhavan was dropped half way and did not feature in the knock outs or the Ranji Trophy winning match. With strong performance in the first division league, he came back into the squad the next season but that was the last he played for TN. With Venkat and Vasudevan dominating the spin attack and with LS ( https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/04/l-sivaramakrishnan.html) having made a spectacular entry into Ranji, Madhavan was vastly underbowled in Ranji Cricket though he could have easily held his own as a left arm spinner. 

Done with Cricket, Off to Dubai 

By the early 1990s and with him into his 30s, he decided that he had had enough of cricket and moved away into the finance world in Dubai. For over a decade, he was into a life largely away from cricket though he was associated on and off with the former West Indian captain Jimmy Adams on some cricket developmental initiatives. He also worked on some interesting cricket infrastructure initiatives in Bangalore.

Life with a Straight Bat

Ad man D Sampath, who is now a Marketing Consultant at The Hindu was then the Regional Buying Director for UAE at ad firm Media Edge and met finance professional Madhavan for the first time at a social meeting around two decades ago. While during his playing days, Madhavan played strokes all around the wicket, Sampath has always seen Madhavan as one with a ‘straight bat’ during the years in Dubai “A stand out quality in him is that he deals with issues with a straight bat and does not change his opinion to please others. I saw him as one who always held his values high.” 

And that also meant he could not survive long in the cricketing environment in Tamil Nadu when he returned to Madras in the mid 2000s after his father’s illness brought a premature end to his finance stint in the UAE. 

Chairman of TN Selectors 

When he returned to Madras, Vasudevan recollects Madhavan being the same bubbly character he had seen in the early 1980s when he got into the TN state "He was keen on contributing to the development of cricket in Tamil Nadu and believed that he could play a role in it."

Despite have been away from the TNCA and any sort of cricketing association in the state for over a decade, he was straightaway handed the Chairmanship of State U19 selection committee. Soon after, he became the Chairman of the TN Selection Committee and it was during his rather ‘short’ regime that the teenaged Abhinav Mukund was picked. 

Ashwin the Best bowler we have in TN 

Well over a dozen years ago, this writer sat next to the Selector Madhavan on the terrace of Chepauk watching a Ranji match and watching Ashwin bowl that day asked him as to how he could pick an off spinner like him for the state, Madhavan’s answer was straight and honest “He is the best we have in the state.” Ashwin has gone on to pick up over 350wickets for India. 

A 10 year Plan for TN cricket? - Remains Madhavan's Dream

While he was thus bullish soon after his return from the UAE and had plans to contribute to TN cricket, he found the TNCA to be a different kettle of fish and discovered that he probably was not cut for this. He showed great commitment as a selector and went from one end of the city to the other to watch first division matches for weeks together, all at his own cost!!! Selectors in TN were not paid then (they still aren’t). But for a personality such as Madhavan who had played two full summers of professional cricket in Scotland as early as the 1980s, it was clear this model of the TNCA would not have suited him for long. 

In a chat in September 2007, Madhavan had told this writer that one should look at a 5-10 year plan for TN cricket that would help identify, create and groom potentially talented cricketers to help them scale up to the next level - and hopefully national duties. Not only did this fade out as just a cricketing vision of a supremely intelligent cricketer, a disgruntled Madhavan quit the Chairmanship of the TN selection committed in the middle of his tenure. 

Resigns as Chairman, Shuns Cricket

While (finance) professional pursuits were primarily the reason, other ‘unwritten’ circumstances including interferences in the workings of the committee led him to quit his selector role sooner than expected. Since then, he has been minimally involved with the TNCA. In fact, during this period, he has shunned any conversation on cricket especially relating to TN cricket and moved into playing Golf .

Return to the TNCA league 

Soon after Madhavan returned from Dubai, Arjan was the captain of MCC in the third division trying to put together a team that could aim for promotion into the 2nd division. He picked Madhavan as his first choice in the team and remembers him as being the first to come to the ground in a full buttoned down shirt through the time he played for MCC in his late 40s “In the way he contributed that year, he put many a youngster to shame with his top class professionalism.” 

1st ball of the match out of the Vivekananda College 

In a rain shortened TNCA league match that this writer umpired at the Vivekananda college, Madhavan, then well into his mid 40s, sent the first ball of the 30overs match over mid wicket into the terrace of the house on the western side that gave an indication of his batting fluency and timing.

Bowl to the Captain's Field

That day, he came back and opened the bowling too from the end that I umpired!!! He was so wily that the opposition just could not spot what was coming next. A big turner was followed by one that came back in sharply. In another match the next season that I umpired at Chepauk (a match where Arjan scored a brilliant century), with MCC having been promoted to the 2nd division, I watched Madhavan adjust to the field set by his captain Arjan. When I pointed to him on a very different field for a left arm spinner, he replied in his typically polite way ‘My job is to bowl to the field set by the captain.’ It was also the match that former Ranji allrounder S Mahesh (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/08/s-mahesh-tn-all-rounder.html) was pulled by this writer (umpire) for abusive language on the field. 

It was around that time that he also made a trip for the Tripanathura cricket tourney reminding one of this popular annual tournament in the decades gone by.

Madhu  in the UK/Australia???

Srinivasan believes that are few in the country with such credentials “If he had been in the UK or Australia, his cricketing acumen would have been immediately picked up by the cricketing body and he would have become a top cricket professional. Such a cricketing brain has been completely underutilized by the state association and the BCCI as well.” 

For a major part of the last decade, Madhavan has not discussed cricket with this writer. And he refused on this one as well. The only time he has looked back on cricket was when he discussed in his typically cheerful style (that reminded me of his days in the 80s) the qualities of legendary S Venkataraghavan in a Video Chat on you tube during the lockdown a couple of months back. But otherwise, he has stayed far away from cricket. These days, he has moved into a disciplined morning devotional model aka Venkat reciting Dasavatharam and Aaditya Hrudayam Stotrams, among a few others. He is now looking to add ‘Sanskrit’ to his repertoire. 

The wounds of 1984 remain which was then accentuated by what he saw in city cricket once he returned from the UAE. He has preferred silence over noise. In the 35 years that have passed since that glorious year with the bat, he has rarely spoken on the heartburns of the period. 

A ‘word’ was given to him and he delivered but the promise was not kept. 

And yet, for someone who could have easily played any number of tests had he been picked when in prime form that winter of 84 and with such strong cricketing credentials, it is a bit of a shame that he has been under utilized by the State and the BCCI. He is a pretty good captain of the ship (as seen during the years at Alwarpet and during his period as the Chief of Selectors), was a master batsman in his hey days, a coach, a mentor, finance professional and an administrator with great communication skills. Despite looking to contribute to the development of cricket in TN after his return from the UAE, he just could not find reconcile himself and find a mid way point that could be a win win for both – the association and himself. There were just ‘far too many things’ at play that did not find his acceptance. 

He will turn 60 this fortnight. It is hoped that into his 60s, he will begin to be closely associated with the state for which he played through the 1980s. A mentor like him has been sorely missing for decades. 

Will he make a comeback in cricket at 60? Or if the frustration remains, he may one day head back to his roots in Mannargudi, a town that is now bustling with devotional activity. For cricket’s sake, one hopes it’s the former, though the heart wants him to continue with his spiritual endeavours. 

TAIL PIECE

A note on my wall in the 1980s 

For well over a decade, from the 1980s, that served as a life lesson, this writer’s father had a big sheet of paper pasted on the wall that read “When there are Bedis and Venkats, there are Shivalkars and Goels too”. And there are Madhavans as well.