Kalli B Kalyanasundaram Selector Match Referee Director Advisor

A Glorious Second Innings in Cricket 

A non confrontational personality, he has been a role model as a fast bowler and set benchmarks as a Match Referee 

The un-fancied Temple town ‘boy’ from Kumbakonam found glory for himself as a star fast bowler amidst two spin legends of TN cricket in the late 60s and 70s, and in his second innings in cricket has been a Selector, Match Referee, Director and Advisor

                                            This 'little' young Kalli

(Just under a decade ago, this section featured a story on Kalli the Cricketer. This one looks at his 2nd innings in cricket- https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/08/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram.html)

In the second half of the 2000s, two major events unfolded in the TNCA relating to two former Ranji cricketers - One from the 1980s, Southpaw R Madhavan, who returned to Madras after almost 15 years in Dubai and another from the 1960s and 70s, ‘hat trick’ man B Kalyanasundaram, who had just retired after almost two decades at N Sankar’s Sanmar Group. Both had been away from cricket for a large part of their professional career and were handed the post of a Selector almost immediately after they ‘announced’ their availability to be re-associated with TN cricket. The two have had very contrasting mix of fortunes with the TNCA. While the former quit very early (interference in his role being one of the reasons and non- payment of a fee for the professional role and time being another) and has had minimal association with cricket since, the latter understood the internal complexities of the TNCA and hung on just as he had during his playing days. It’s been a glorious second innings in cricket. Here’s the story of Kalyanasundaram’s model of breaking through the shackles and achieving success against all odds.

Fighting against Personal Tragedy 

Right from his childhood, Kalyanasundaram has been one who has had to fight against the tide, quite literally in his teenage days. As a school boy, he spent a lot of his free time swimming in the then over flowing Cauvery of the 1950s and 60s in Kumbakonam. But tragedy struck early in his life as he lost his parents by the time he was into his teens (his mother Savithri when he was just nine and his father, Balasubramanyam, a lawyer who was practising in Kumbakonam, when he was sixteen). These sudden turn of events led him to focus entirely on academics, far away from cricket (sometime in the future, this section will explore a feature on another successful personality who too lost his parents by the time he was 16). 

Amma Savithri with Kumbakonam Lawyer Appa Balasubramanyam

After a short stint at St. Joseph’s college, Trichy, he moved to the reputed REC Calicut for his Engineering (an indication of his outstanding performance in academics). Despite being short in structure, his pace (strength gathered from his swimming years in Kumbakonam), was overwhelming for the Keralites and he found his way into the Kerala Ranji Team during his college days, within a few years of his entry into serious cricket driven by strong performances including in the then popular Tripanathura Pooja tournament. His performances were so overwhelming that 55 years later, the Keralites invited him last month to share his Calicut success story which he did to the who's who of Kerala cricket. He performed exceedingly well in his first year in first class cricket. 

Kerala U25 Team 1965-66 under the captaincy of SK Nair

Soon after his graduation, he came to Madras and experienced real city life for the first time in his life when he reached State Capital in the summer of 1967, the period when N Sankar (later Sanmar Group) returned to the city after his Masters in the US and began his active stint in running cricket that has now lasted over five decades. 

Experiencing Cricket in a Metro 

Kalyanasundaram joined Jai Hind in the second division for a year (he was a bit disappointed at a Ranji player being asked to play 2nd division) as per the instructions of N Sankar before playing for a decade for Jolly Rovers, a period when he worked under KS Narayanan at India Cements. It was also a period when he enjoyed huge success with the TN Ranji team despite being in the shadows of the legendary spin twins S Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html) and VV Kumar. He had to showcase himself as a fast bowler in the few overs he got with the new ball and a bit later with the old ball when Venkat and VVK took a short break. Tales of Kalli itching to grab the ball in Ranji matches when there was no breakthrough for a long time is legendary but he or his teammates went to Venkat to suggest handing the ball to the fast bowler. Almost 50 years after the event ( Kalli took a Hat Trick in the Ranji Final but TN was bundled out in the fourth innings by Bombay), Sunil Gavaskar still refers to him as ‘The Hat Trick’ man, such was the impact of his bowling in that period in the late 1960s and early 70s. 

                        Rakesh Tandon-  One of the Hat trick victims TN v Bombay Final 72-73

In the second half of the 70s, as he moved towards the end of his first class career and with the possibility of a place in the Indian team becoming remote (had he been handed more overs at his peak for TN, he may have bettered his chances of making his way into the Indian team, but Venkat and VV Kumar dominated the bowling. Despite this, he was on the verge of Indian selection but did not get the break and made his way to Coimbatore to join LMW (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/domesticindia-cricket-matches-1979-1983.html) where he worked for a decade. Well into his 30s, playing for LMW in the first division league, he gave Ranji Cricketers of the day such as NP Madhavan and S Srinivasan a run for their money. Health reasons as well as his sons’ education led him to return to Madras and surprisingly once again he worked with Sankar this time professionally at the Sanmar Group. By the time he moved to Chemplast in the 2nd half of the 1980s, he had already donned the role of a district representative in the Ranji Panel. But soon after he returned to Madras, he was out of the State Panel with the tag of district representative no more applicable to him.

Decades away from Cricket 

For a large part of two decades, after he joined Chemplast, Kalyanasundaram stayed out of TN cricket surprising including within Jolly Rovers for whom he had played an important role in the success in the 60s and 70s. His only connect with cricket was when he went with Sankar to watch matches in the city especially when VB Chandrasekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html)  was batting (VBC was a special favourite of Sankar in the few years that he played for Chemplast). Through this period, Kalyanasundaram’s focus was on professional work, where he rose to the position of VP at the time of his retirement in 2006. 

Role Model for youngsters - Ever Motivating 

Former Ranji cricketer and a match referee for the last decade, S Sharath ( https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/12/sharath-s-tn-crickets-atg.html ) remembers the teenaged days of his cricket at Chemplast in the early 1990s “On many days, when I climbed the stairs of the Chemplast office, he would wish me with a motivational talk which would be on the lines of ‘you should score a big hundred in the next match. You have the potential and should capitalize and go on to get big runs.’ I was in college then and these words coming from such a legend were very inspiring for me. And I remembered it every time I went to bat..” 

Interestingly, almost two decades later, when Kalli was a state selector, he came and watched Sharath bat in a first division league match when ATG of TN cricket was on the wrong side of the 30s and had retired from first class cricket. Sharath remembers the words that day from Kalli that was just as inspiring as the one in the early 90s “I scored a century that day. He came up to me at the end of the day and said “Even now, the best of attacks in the state cannot get your wicket. It was a priceless comment and I cherish it to this day. He is a great motivator for all cricketers and his communication is crystal clear.” 

His boss at the Sanmar Group, N Sankar, who turned 75 in November last,(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/jolly-rovers-n-sankar-75.html) has high words of praise for Kalli “I can certainly certify that when he worked for our company, he was a dedicated, loyal employee. He was primarily with the Purchase Department, and worked on many of our projects and regular purchases.”

Back to cricket after two decades 

Much like R Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/r-madhavan-tn-cricketer-1980s.html), Kalyanasundaram came back after a longish break from cricket. In fact, over the last decade, in his interactions with this writer, he has often reiterated his ‘ignorance’ of the happenings in TN cricket in the 1990s and the early 2000s for he was completely focused on carrying out his duties at the work place. 

Soon after his retirement at the Sanmar Group, he was roped in by the TNCA as a Selector in the U17/ U19 segment. Another player with his cricketing credentials may have been hurt to be given an age group post but Kalli is philosophical looking back at being handed the post in the U17 category “I had not been involved with TNCA cricket for almost two decades. Hence, it was logical that I start from scratch.” 

And that is exactly what he did. For a couple of years, he went and watched every round of matches in the U17 and U19 segments to get a feel of the talent that was coming up at that time in TN. In the years that followed, he also went around the State to watch cricketers in the age group category across almost all cricket playing districts in Tamil Nadu in an exhaustive talent hunting exercise. 

Over the last decade, he has repeatedly stated his view to this writer that being chosen as an official of the TNCA is something one has to see with pride, almost an equivalent of wearing the state cap (from his playing days). He did not get paid much for playing for the State in the 60s and 70s and his entire stint of 7years as a Selector was honorary without any remuneration “When there were hundreds of top notch cricketers available at their disposal, TNCA in its wisdom thought it fit to hand me a particular responsibility (a Selector’s post). Should I not consider it a matter of pride that they reposed their faith in me of doing a (bloody) good job of discharging my duty to the best of my ability?” 

And then following the sudden resignation of Madhavan as the Chairman of the TN Selection committee, Kalyanasundaram made the leap into the State (Ranji) panel from the age group category. Shortly after, he became the Chairman of the TN Selection Committee. 

Deft Handling of the TNCA 

The processes in the TNCA have always been complex and would be difficult for the common cricket fan to understand. For example, way back in 1987, when S Vasudevan (the current Chairman of TN Selection Committee) - https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/vasudevan-tn-ranji-trophy-retirement.html - took over the captaincy of Tamil Nadu (the team went on to win the Ranji Trophy that season), he was simply handed the playing XI by the Selectors of the time on the morning of the first match he captained. Such was the scenario prevailing at the time (it is another matter that he did not agree on that XI handed out to him and made a change). For long, there has been a debate on the role of the selectors in the playing XI. 

Over the last decade or so, coaches have become an integral part of the selection process and they have had their say in the players that they would like in the squad (prior to the selection meeting). Similarly, it has been a given that the TNCA too has had its say in selection matters and that is not new either. In addition to all of these, it is well known in the cricketing circles that the individual clubs in the TNCA and former cricketers too have wielded their influence on the selection committee in various ways. 

Jolly Rovers, Madras - That great Master KR Rajagopal bottom righ

 Through the entire period of his regime as the Chairman, he deftly managed these complexities of the TNCA. To Kalyanasundaram’s credit, right from the days as a selector in the age group category, he has been one who has been present in the grounds to watch the league (and the age group) matches. In those years, one often heard the remark in the cricketing circles - ‘this man really does justice to his role’. Even when a strong personality such as the late VB Chandrasekar became the coach of the TN team (he was sacked within the first year by a ‘player revolt’) and by when the state coach had begun to have a larger say in selection matters, Kalyanasundaram held his ground as the Chairman. 

Of course, many decisions and non decisions during his time were questionable. The Selection committee led by Kalyanasundaram was not bold enough in taking some tough calls that was the need of the day but that has been his style all along. He understood the system as a player in the 1970s and when he came back in the 2nd half of the 2000s, one of the very first things he did was to ‘understand’ the constraints of the system. 

During his time as a player, a period that was dominated by Venkataraghavan and VV Kumar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/07/cricket-tales-exclusive-with-vv-kumar.html), he tried to perform to the best of his ability in the 3-4overs he was given in between their long spells. He understood that he was never going to be the spearhead of the attack when the country was dominated by spin bowling. But even in the most difficult of scenarios, of the spin twins bowling a large majority of the overs, he held his own and managed to pick well over a 100 wickets for TN. 

Safe Calls as a Selector 

Similarly, over the last 15 years, he has been one who has understood the system well – the players, the administrators, the coaches and the clubs and its members. He did not try to be revolutionary and was not the one to create ripples and shake the system with his team selection. He took safe calls as a selector. It was clear to everyone at that time he was not one who would change the system with big decisions. There was also no ‘visionary’ selection in that phase but the meetings itself were professionally organised. Clearly, he brought all his corporate experience from Chemplast into the meetings and that was reflected in the way every single meeting was organised over the five years.

Former Central Zone leg spinner S Madhavan is now well into his sixties. With the unlocking of the COVID restrictions, he was back on field late last month and  continues to pick up wickets in the TNCA league. He was part of the State Selection panel under the Chairmanship of Kalyansundaram and says that the communication was clear "His English language skills combined with the ability to communicate in clear terms was outstanding. The meetings were well planned under his chairmanship. Prior to the meeting, we would sit together and discuss informally. Once inside the meeting room, I spoke my mind on the suggestions I had and he would listen to me and each one of us patiently and hear out our views. The meetings were conducted professionally."

Another member of that selection panel, former TN Ranji Captain S Suresh (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/sweety-s-suresh-tn-ranji-finals-captain.html), who has just succeeded Kalyanasundaram as the Chairman of the CAC, too was part of the state selection committee that he (Kalli) had headed. Suresh remembers the ease with which the meetings were chaired “While he was a real senior to us having played in the 60s and 70s, we were never overwhelmed with his presence. None of us were restricted in any way from expressing our views. He adopted a consensus approach in the meetings and gave utmost importance to the points shared by the panel.” 

The Chairman turns SILENT for five years 

Interestingly, in that phase, all of a sudden the Chairman of Selectors stopped talking with the media (including to this writer) on selection decisions. When this writer called Kalli very early on in his stint, his response was that he had been asked by the TNCA to not talk to the media on selection matters. How odd – the only time in recent decades that Chairman has been asked to be silent!!! Just prior to him, R Madhavan spoke to this writer as a Selector on his vision for TN cricket and also on the selection matters. Immediately, after Kalli’s tenure, Sharath spoke on the big selection decisions he had made within the first six months of his stint and he continued to speak throughout his five year period including to this writer. Nationally it has been a practice for the chairman of selectors to talk to the media on the team selection. It was only during Kalli’s tenure that the TNCA ‘chose’ to take away the ‘spokesperson’ status from the then chairman of selectors. He did not speak to this writer anytime during those five years on selection matters citing TNCA’s mandate to him to not talk on selection matters in the public domain. 

While clear cut communication in classy English has been his strength, this decision was a reflection of his personality of playing it safe at all times. In his mind, he was clear and saw as his role the selection of the team that was best according to him for that season as against justifying that team and the thought process to the media. TNCA handled that part through the five years of Kalli’s tenure. 

Given the cricketing scenario in the country, it is likely that there will be pressure on each of the selectors. These would come not just from the governing body of the time but from club secretaries, friends of the selectors, former cricketers (there are many instances of how former cricketers have got their relatives into cricket), the political class and many others. Given the short term and immediate requirement of each of these classes, it requires great ‘staying power’ to survive in this environment. And Kalli just had that – the knack of survival while at the same time carrying out his duties with great integrity.

Match Referee- The Glory Days in the 2nd Innings

With match referees coming into play at every first class match, there was a new found opportunity for Kalyanasundaram (this of course was a well paid for engagement). Within a couple of years of his retirement from his professional career, in addition to his role as a selector, he had also become a match referee on the back of his first class record and a solid understanding of the laws of cricket and the strong communication skills. He went on to don that role for five years, a period that he considers as one of the most enjoyable of his life “There is a misconception that a match referee is one who books players and downgrades umpires. I always saw it as one of proactive match management, communicating clearly the expectations ahead of the match and allowing it to flow without ‘incidents’.” 

As with his life’s journey, this one too was not a path without thorns. In the early phase, not knowing his cricketing credentials from his days as a star performer in the 1960s and 70s, he was posted for matches that did not do justice to his track record as a player. But as soon as the powers that be of the time noticed the respect he garnered from the players and the umpires and the credibility he brought to the engagement, he was assigned top Ranji and Zonal matches. In October 2011, he was the match referee in the Quadrangular U19 tournament featuring the WI, Australia, SL and India at Vizag. 

The Big Year 

2013 was a big year for Match Referee Kalyanasundaram. In January, he officiated in a six day Ranji Trophy Semi Final between Mumbai and Services after day 3 and 4 were washed out by rain. His high point as a Match Referee came a month later when, aged 67, he officiated in the international tour match involving the Australians at the Guru Nanak College ground in Chennai. Later that year, he was the match referee in an international tour match involving the West Indians in Calcutta. 

IPL eludes him

At that time, his hopes of officiating in the IPL may have been high but as with his playing career, the big call eluded him. As is his way, he invokes the gracious large hearted blessings of Sabanayakar of Chidambaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/08/chidambaram-thillai-thiru-chitrakoodam.html) and reminds himself of being blessed with a life full of contentment (something that he has made repeatedly to this writer over the last many years) “Please remember I am not a Kapil Dev. To play for a decade alongside legends such as Venkat and VVK and to bowl to batting legends such as MAK Pataudi and ML Jaisimha,  a man from Kumbakonam could not have asked for more.” 

Another point he has repeatedly made over the last decade to this writer has been the opportunities provided to him by the TNCA "When there are hundreds of well established cricketers who have made TN proud over the last several decades, should I not consider it a great blessing that the TNCA reposed their trust in me as a Selector, referred me as a Match Referee and believed that I could play the role of the Advisor in cricket development." 

He set the Benchmark

Like in his cricketing days, he landed up in several challenging situations as a match referee too but handled it with finesse. He was the official when Murali Kartik (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/12/murali-kartik-railways-ranji-turnaround.html) initated the 'Mankad' out in a first class match.There were other tough matches involving Rohit Sharma, S Sriram and many others but in each of the scenarios, his proactive communication skills came to the fore.

S Sharath, who played over a 100 first class matches and has officiated as a match referee in close to 50 matches says that Kalyanasundaram set the benchmark for match referees from TN “All of us looked up to him as a match referee. He was easily among the best in the country at that time and we learned a lot from him on how to conduct a match and the qualities that make for a successful match referee.” 

Identifying and Initiating former cricketers 

Not only did he perform his role well, he also encouraged other cricketers in the state, who spent the earlier decades as players, to look at match referee as an option to further their cricketing interests. TN fast bowler from the 1990s and a State Bowling Coach for 6 years J Gokulakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/03/gokulakrishnan-j.html), who has officiated in over 25 BCCI matches, credits Kalyanasundaram for initiating him into match referee “I had had a stint with the state as the coach but did not have any cricketing engagements with the TNCA for a few years. When I was wondering what next on the cricketing front, it was he who seeded the thought in me to explore match referee as an option. In the last couple of years, this has worked well for me. He is ever willing to help cricketers grow in this field and we all look at him as a genuine well wisher.” 

Bubbling with youthful enthusiasm 

Gokulakrishnan’s younger brother and BCCI umpire for the last 15years, J Madanagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html), has pleasant memories of BCCI and TNPL matches when Kalyanasundaram was the match referee “I found him to be a fantastic referee, who always participates actively in all the discussions and chats/banter among the officials and players. He has superb knowledge of the game and combined with great communication skills, he made for a top referee.” 

But what fascinated Madan the most was Kalli’s bubbling enthusiasm “We always felt he was so young, such is his enthusiasm and passion for the game. He gave us the feeling that he was one amongst us.” 

Absolute Team Man 

Former Kerala Ranji Captain and now ICC Panel umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/08/ananthapadmanabhan-international-umpire.html) who has been an umpire in many matches when Kalli was the Match referee, recalls the motivational talks and the incisive feedback that was part of every conversation with Kalyanasundaram which gave the on-field umpires a lot of confidence in carrying out their duty “He was just outstanding as a referee and never missed a single ball. Foremost quality was the fact that he was an absolute team man, one who always wanted to be thorough with LAWS / Playing Conditions and how it should be interpreted. Every time we (the umpires) returned to the dressing room from the field, he would come out to receive us with lot of encouragement and enthusiasm. I have seen innumerable number of times Kalli getting excited (even more than us) and happy when we got a tough decision correct. He would describe in detail his observations of our performance and come up with truly valuable suggestions.” 

Roping in Former Cricketers to play a more active role

Over the last decade, Kalyanasundaram has also come on board the IPL franchise team CSK as its director. A couple of years ago, he was appointed as the head of the Cricket Advisory Committee that had as its role the appointment of the TN Selection Committee. It was he who suggested the names of S Vasudevan (originally for talent hunting and later for the selection committee) and NP Madhavan (as a selector in the age group category)- https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html - to come back into the cricketing fray and for the TNCA to use their cricketing experience. 

NP Madhavan had touched 60 but his employer was keen for him to continue his role as the VP. He had just got an extension at his work place at GVG, Udumalpet (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html), a place where he had resided for over three decades. One evening, in 2019, he received a call from an unlikely person, one who had rejected him as a cricketer almost four decades earlier at LMW. It was Kalyanasundaram, the Chairman of the Cricket Advisory Committee.  While Madhavan had played some role in districts cricket in the 1990s, he had stayed away from any official connection with the cricket associations in the state in the last couple of decades. Kalli felt credible names were required to be associated with TN cricket and he was keen to rope him in. Madhavan had told this writer in 2019 about the persuasive powers of Kalli "I was not too interested to get back into a cricketing role but Kalli gave some very convincing reasons for me to get back into Selection and almost 'forced' me to agree."

Madhavan was appointed as a U19 Selector. It was yet another example of Kalli going out of the way in search of credible former cricketers and putting forth a convincing argument to get them to make a re-entry into cricket. Vasudevan too had been out of the TNCA for a long time. It was Kalyanasundaram who had repeatedly 'pitched' to get him to play an active developmental role in TN cricket. 

Man of Integrity

TN Ranji cricketer from the 1990s Arjan Kripal Singh has now been a regular in the referee panel. While he has not interacted much with Kalli as a match referee, he counts his integrity as a top quality "I have heard him to be a very intelligent person and one with a lot of integrity."

High on Philosophy and Ethics

LMW cricketer from the 1970s, NS Ramesh, who played for RBI through the 1980s, knows Kalli best from that decade for he was the one who gave him company for many months in Coimbatore (both stayed on/off Alagesan Road) when his wife had been away for the birth of their second son “Right from those days in the 70s, Kalli has been one who has wanted to be philosophically correct and above board in everything he did. He was always a God fearing person and would not venture into doing anything that would be seen as not ethical.” 

Kalyanasundaram has been non confrontational all his life. As a cricketer, he showcased that he was up there with the best having held his own for a decade despite the dominating presence of Venkat and VVK in the bowling unit. And in his second innings, he has managed to hold his own once again for over a decade as a Selector, Match Referee, a Cricket Advisor and a Director. In an association like TNCA, with multiple forces at play, to come so clean is a significant achievement. The fact that he was not a spokesperson of the TNCA during his five year tenure as the Chairman of the Selection Committee was a one of its kind event but that really defines Kalli as a personality – He stays away from controversial situations. 

He will turn 75 next year and one wonders as to what more he has in his cricketing cabinet for he has always sprung a cricketing surprise.  For long, Talent Spotting has been his favourite. He has always been willing to spend time travelling around, especially to remote districts to look at the cricketing talent in unexplored territories. That probably is the closest to his heart. Hopefully, there will be some positive updates on that front. This section will track his cricketing developments.