PC Prakash TN Ranji 1980s

Topped the TN batting charts in his first two Ranji seasons and gained an immediate entry into the Zonal squad but failure to convert solid starts into big hundreds in key matches including against visiting international teams dashed his hopes of a place in the Indian team

At 60, PCP is one of the very few in TN cricket to have been actively associated for five decades

"His delayed debut for TN slowed down his progress - An early break could have changed his cricketing fortunes" - Alwarpet and TN teammate WV Raman

In the first half of the 1970s, a No. 3 batsman who had been in prolific form for the varsities and included in the Ranji squad sat out for four years without playing a single match. Frustrated at this treatment, he quit serious cricket and headed back to Coimbatore to pursue his profession as a lawyer. Four decades later, he has earned a name for himself as one of the top lawyers in the Textile city (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/10/pr-ramakrishnan-coimbatore-cricketer.html). 

Move on to the 1980s, history seemed to repeat itself in TN cricket with another No. 3 batman, going through the same heartburns. His special fielding skills meant that he was the preferred ‘12th man’ for Venkat (Venkataraghavan@75) and the slightest injury to a player brought him on to the field. Unlike the lawyer, this Engineer was a local Madras lad and with a cricketing family to back him, he continued his cricketing pursuits. He finally made his Ranji debut at 24 five years after having been inducted into the squad and went on to top the batting aggregate for the state in the first two Ranji seasons. His strong performances earned him a place in the Zonal team as well as opportunities against international oppositions. If he had converted a couple of the starts into big hundreds, it was likely that he would have made it into the next level.  But he did not and faded out in subsequent years after playing over 35matche. In the next three decades, he has continued his association with cricket in many modes – running /managing multiple clubs in the TNCA league, being a state selector for five years and a coach for a decade. At 60, he is one of the very few in the state who have had an uninterrupted five decades run with cricket. Here is the story.

Pathamadai to Kollam to Madras

PC Prakash (PCP) hailed from a cricketing family. His forefathers belonged to the temple town of Pathamadai, infamous now for a priest who has been receiving Rs. 19 per month as salary for decades from the HRCE (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2014/10/pathamadai-kariya-manikkam-perumal.html). His grandfather moved to Quilon in search of greener pastures. His father PS Chandrasekaharan (Chander to those in the cricketing circles) settled down in Madras.  

                  Karisulntha Mangalam, Pathamadai

Mambalam Mosquitos - To nurture budding Talent

His father and uncle were cricketers of merit and played for the Junior state. In the 1940s, Chander made an important contribution to the society at large by launching a cricket club ‘Mambalam Mosquitos’ with the objective of nurturing budding talent. Thus PCP grew up in familiar cricketing territory with the talks throughout his childhood centering almost entirely on cricket. Playing street cricket in Kamaraj Avenue, where his father had moved to from West Mambalam, the school boy refused to get out even in tennis ball cricket angering his Adyar friends. His motto right from the age of five was to never get out when he had a bat in hand even if it was the friendliest of games. That temperament held him in good stead in later years when he went up the cricketing ladder though his extended defense did earn boos from the Chepauk crowd  on many occasions. 

      Appa PS Chander

The Great DB years with KS Kannan

Though he grew up in Adyar, his amma suggested that he move to Don Bosco in Egmore from the local school that he had started out with. He would board No. 23 (PTC bus) to reach Egmore before 6am to be in time for legend KS Kannan’s coaching session, one that made a big early impact on his cricket. He recalls the phase from the late 1960s/early 70s “I grew up watching The Hindu’s K Balaji (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-blossoming-cricket-career-was-cut.html). He was the big name at Don Bosco at that time along with Ashok Thambuswamy and was a rock star in school cricket. The biggest blessing in that phase was to be coached by KS Kannan. He was a fantastic coach and taught me the basics of batting and fielding. Even way back then, 50 years ago, the net sessions were very well organised and it was a joy to wake up at 5am to be part of his nets every morning.”

His strong defensive technique was harnessed by hours of the 'throw downs' from his appa and uncle who spent hundreds of hours during his childhood throwing tennis balls at him at good pace. PCP also credits Vaai Vasu and R Pattabhiraman, who played first division cricket in the late 1980s, for the years of selfless bowling on the streets of Adyar and at CLRI and Anna University.

An important league break - Youngsters' Sashikanth

Aged 14, he signed up for his first league team on June 30, the last day for the registration process. When every other club gave this teenager a pass considering him too young for league, it was that passionate cricketer Sashikanth, another cricket maverick, who gave him his first break in league cricket and the much needed early league boost. (Sashikanth once took all 10 wickets in a league match!!!)

PCP made lots of runs at the Sub Junior and Junior levels and was in the city and State schools teams. He was also selected for the South Zone Schools captained by Arshad Ayub.  After playing forù in the controversial year when the bank was relegated to division two after being found guilty of match fixing!!! 

During PCP’ college days, KS Ramanujam (this writer umpired his first league match with the former RBI fast bowler who passed away a few years ago) played a great mentoring role bowling at Somasundaram ground. Prakash recalls the great contribution of Tunga “He would bowl to me for a couple of hours every morning at Soma.  He loved to bowl and just never seemed to tire. His spells on that open field helped me sharpen my batting skill.”

Two Good years at Viveka

Just past mid teens, there had been significant developments on academics side of his life. Though his entire childhood was spent with a bat in hand, he was good on the academics front as well and was in the top ten ranks all through his schooling days. Cricket continued to be his only priority and he joined PUC at Viveka. When it came to the choice of the graduation degree, he went in for B.Sc Physics having already tasted cricketing success at Viveka under S Srinivasan. 

Engineer PCP

There had been a seat on offer at the Guindy Engineering college but the high in cricket at Viveka meant that he chose B.Sc over a professional degree. It was Nedumaran (who later joined him at Alwarpet) who came home and convinced his mother to get him to join Anna University “I had no interest to do Engineering for I had this psychological feeling that Engineering may restrict my cricketing progress and hence continued at Viveka after PUC. I was also enjoying my cricket with the likes of TS Mohan/ TS Mukund, VBC, KAK and captain Srinivasan but Nedu managed to convince my amma that led me to discontinuing B. Sc to join Engineering a year late.”

The famous words of the GEC PD still rings in his ears “You are the only one who rejected this prestigious engineering seat when it was handed to you on a platter.”

Alongside Ranji Stars at Alwarpet

After a year at RBI, he was roped in by Alwarpet, a start studded team that included Ranji Stalwarts Satvinder Singh, S Vasudevan and captain P Mukund. Satvindar recalls PCP from the early 1980s “When I think of PC, I am always reminded of him as a serious cricketer who would slip in a witty remark once in a while. I liked his batting and he made some good scores for Alwarpet. He was a very likeable person.”

His younger brother PC Naresh too continued the cricketing tradition and went up to the Junior State level. Unlike his elder brother, he chose the safety of a bank job and has been with SBI for over three decades.

Following in Ramki’s footsteps

He captained the Junior State team and did well. He continued to score a lot of runs in the league for Alwarpet. He was picked in the TN Ranji team when he was just 19. While he was delighted to be picked early and the sense of excitement was palpable, it soon turned into frustration much like it had for PR Ramakrishnan a decade earlier “It was an amazing feeling to be sharing the TN dressing room with four international players and TN legends such as S Vasudevan and Abdul Jabbar. As time went by, I found myself to be a permanent fixture as a 12th man. The initial excitement of being in the TN squad faded away when I found that I was donning the role of a substitute fielder. Venkat had a particular liking for good fielders and I found myself on the field most of the time.”

He vividly remembers being on the field through an entire day watching two brilliant knocks by Ashok Malhotra at Chepauk in the knock out game against Haryana in February 81.

After his professional Engineering degree, he joined Sundaram Industries but rarely put his Engineering brains at work for he spent almost all his life on the cricket field.

It turned out to be a frustrating five years for him and he felt exactly the same way as Ramki had in the mid 70s. “I was thrilled with the fielding opportunities and watching Venkat and Vasu bowl from close quarters but I realized I had to be more than just a ‘substitute’ fielder. Being on the sidelines helped me strengthen mentally and I fought it out through big runs in the first division league and Buchi Babu tournament.”

In the summer of 1985, he had one of his best cricketing experiences – a month long tour to the UK organised by Bharath Reddy “It gave me great exposure and was an enjoyable tour, one that was funded by TVS’ Ratnam.”

When he came back, he began in a brilliant fashion including scoring a century against the Championship side SPIC that his former college captain S Srinivasan (Bombay and TN Ranji) remembers. “He scored a classy century against SPIC at Marina against TA Sekar, K Arun Kumar and S Vasudevan.” 

Finally at 24, he made his Ranji debut under Bharath Reddy in the 1985-86 season. “I had always done well under Bharath having started out in the 1970s for Madras Varsity. Once again, I started out under him in my debut season in Ranji.”

PCP had to make up for lost time and that he did very quickly. In both his first two seasons, he topped the batting charts for TN, quite a significant achievement.

An early break could have turned his cricketing fortunes

Alwarpet and TN teammate Raman looks back at those early years in the 1980s and feels a little sorry for PCP "He was absolutely obsessed with cricket. It was unfortunate that he did not get a break for five years. It slowed down his progress. LS and I made our debut very early on in our cricketing lives and we could correct some of the mistakes that we made. PC was a determined sort of cricketer and completely dedicated to the game. But by the time, he made his debut, age was not on his side and he could ill afford to make mistakes. Against this backdrop, I think he performed really well in the opportunities that he got. He clearly showed that he was of a different mould." 

The Debut season - Jabbar’s gracious gesture

It was December of 1985 when he played his first Ranji match against Kerala, a rain affected match that TN won in two days. Prakash is grateful to Abdul Jabbar for a noble gesture from the veteran in his debut season “I was slated to bat only at No. 6 but it was the gracious gesture of Jabbar that helped me move a slot up and it made a big difference. He sacrificed his slot for me and I am ever grateful to him for that. His decision gave me a lot of confidence and I wanted to prove to him that his sacrifice would not go waste.”

Talking to this writer from Hyderabad, Jabbar, who rarely talks about his own self, recalls those moments in 1985 “I had already played for well over a decade. PC had been in the squad for a few years but had not made his debut. It had been a frustrating period for him and I was sensitive to the feelings of a young cricketer all excited to make his debut. I volunteered to move to No. 6 so he could have more opportunities to showcase his batting skills and seal a permanent place for himself in the TN team.”

And that Prakash did brilliantly with successive centuries in his debut season. In his very second match, he shared a century partnership with Jabbar in the process also scoring a century. He followed this up within a week with another century, this time against a strong Karnataka team in front of one of the biggest crowds he had seen at Dharwar. “Abhiram and Khanwilkar had run through our top half and we were struggling at 40odd for 6. It was mind blowing with 20000 crowd rooting for the home team and the pressure was really high. They all wanted to bundle us out quickly. My century helped us to a score of 200+. It gave me a lot of satisfaction and confidence.”

PCP continued his rich vein of form in the league stage into the knock outs and scored half centuries against UP and Bombay (in an inconsequential 2nd innings).

Misses a Century on Duleep Trophy Debut

His aggregate of close to 500runs in the first season earned him a place in the South Zone team for the Duleep Trophy. He had a terrific debut in October 1986 scoring 81in the Semi Final against North Zone in the process being involved in a big partnership with Test star Azhar but he failed to convert that into a big century “I was bowled by Maninder playing across the line. I had a century for the taking and missed the opportunity to convert that start into a big century that would have brought me into immediate limelight.”

Last minute exclusion 

In the final against West Zone, he once again had a good start and was looking good when he was stumped down the leg side of Mokashi. These two knocks earned him a place in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy against Delhi at Jodhpur that followed within days of the Duleep Trophy Final. PCP was sure of a place in the XI until Vengsarkar decided very late to make this a practice match for his comeback. Vengsarkar had not played in the Duleep Trophy final and was not in the original squad in the ROI team but he expressed a late interest to showcase that he had indeed recovered from the injury. The India batting legend joining the squad on the eve of the match meant that PCP had to make way for him the next morning and he lost out on an opportunity to showcase his skills at a time when he was in prime form. 

This was not to be the only last minute exclusion in that phase. A month later, he was slated to play in the XI for India U25 against Sri Lanka at Gwalior when at the last moment, captain Chandrakant Pandit decided to play as a batsman and handed the keeping role to Saba Karim. This meant that Prakash was left out just a few minutes before the toss. He lost out on two big opportunities in the space of a month - a major setback for him in his cricketing life in terms of proving himself on the big stage when in the form of his life.

Opponent GRV’s advice

In his second season in Ranji cricket, in 86-87, having tasted early success in Duleep Trophy, he moved to the No.3 spot which he was to hold till the end of his Ranji career. He scored his 2nd successive ton against Kerala in two years and it looked like he would follow exactly the same trend as the first year with another century against Karnataka. 

When Karnataka came to Salem in December 86 in the week following his century against Kerala, PCP was once again in top form though TN was struggling chasing Karnataka’s 500+. Three decades later, he recalls the great words from the batting legend GR Viswanath “He was fielding at slip. While we were not going to get the first innings lead, we chased 300 to secure the additional bonus point. I was taken aback when the batting legend came up to me and asked me to go for my second successive ton against Karnataka instead of the bonus point as he felt that we would not be able to get that bonus point.”

GRV had gone out of his way  to seed the thought of a century in the youngster  but  PCP  lost his wicket going for a big shot chasing that bonus point.

If he had scored a century, it would have been two successive back to back centuries against Kerala and Karnataka in both his first and second Ranji seasons. Like in a few other important games in his life, he did not bat through to the century.

Prakash was even more startled when GRV came up to him in a match in Gwalior a year later and recalled as to how the ‘youngster’ did not heed to his advice and lost out on a century “It was amazing that a legend like him cared and encouraged me unmindful that I was in the opposition. Not only did he suggest to go for the century but also remembered it a year later and reminded me as to how I let go a great opportunity to score a century.”

Against Pakistan - Fails to convert the start

However, he did get to play in the XI against the Visiting Pakistanis in January 1987, a team that included Wasim Akram.  “I batted for over 2 1/2 hours and had posted a half century partnership with Rajput when I got out to Mansoor Ilahi. Manjrekar scored a century in that match and soon after was drafted into the Indian squad. In those days, the match against the international teams was crucial for youngsters. Big runs against them got the next gen into the Indian squad. I missed out on converting my start into a bigger knock against Pakistan.” 

He continued his form into the one day cricket scoring a half century on debut in both the Deodhar Trophy and Wills Trophy tournament in early 1987.

Joins SPIC

By this time, he had joined SPIC after six years at Alwarpet, though he also had an offer from his Varsity captain Bharath Reddy who was by then making waves at Chemplast. During the initial years there, the then budding left armer Charan Singh spent a lot of time bowling to PCP at the nets getting him used to 'left arm over'.

1987-88 Ranji winning season

A lot of youngsters emerged during the season. PCP was in good form that season but once again he failed to convert the starts into big knocks. He had multiple scores in the 40s. In the final, he remembers encountering a fine spell from veteran left arm spinner “Hyder was almost unplayable for a period. Decades later, VBC and I continued to discuss as to how we overcame that spell. We put on 140runs that laid the foundation for the 700plus runs that TN posted in the final."

Misses out on Irani Trophy

Despite scoring a half century in the final and forging a century partnership with VBC( https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html?m=1) Prakash did not find a place in the playing XI in the Irani Trophy.

One of the things that had been held against him in that phase was that he did not get things to move on. PCP himself felt the 'scoreboard' pressure coming as he did after two belligerent openers. Right from his childhood, he had grown with the idea of safeguarding his wicket and that was sometimes overbearing on him while batting. He says that there was pressure on him to push the score along and many a time he walked into boos from the crowd, especially at Chepauk, as they felt they were going to encounter a boring phase in the game. But really, he was the one who steadied the ship and it was around him that the middle order batted. 

Former India fast bowler TA Sekar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-fastest-indian-bowler-of-1980s.html), who played alongside him at RBI and later for TN, says that he was technically very sound and had a good temperament and was particularly suited for the longer version (3day/4day games). But there was a tendency for him to get bogged down as he seemed to 'admire' his own batting.

Raman's Eden Gardens Knock-PC's role

When the Ranji winning team went to Western Australia in November 88, PCP top scored with 37. Within a week, he once again top scored for TN this time against the visiting New Zealanders with a knock of 71. A few months later, in March 89, he was involved in a mammoth chase against Bengal in the Ranji Semi Final. Chasing 595, he put on a partnership of over 250 with WV Raman, who played one of the best innings seen at the Eden Gardens. PCP scored 75 holding one end up and the two seemed to be taking TN to a record run chase. 

Raman found the call for PC to play more shots quite paradoxical "There was often this criticism that he did not play shots more often. He was asked to develop his stroke play. As a sincere cricketer, e worked hard on developing this ability as well."

"It was paradoxical that one with a compact technique and a strong defense was asked to play more shots. With VBC and Srikkanth at the top, one simply did not have a clue either about the pitch or the opposition bowlers for they slammed the good balls and the best of the bowlers. It was PCP who actually provided solidity at No. 3 and brought a sense into the proceedings. He showed some decorum in batting.  He was good at leaving the ball quite in contrast to the two openers of the time. Unfortunately for him, the crowd too often had high expectation of the No.3, the one following the dashing VBC and Srikkanth but slowly they understood the value he brought to the team. He was a courageous cricketer and had the guts to face the fastest bowlers with spectacles (those days you did not have the contacts). He simply did not flinch while batting and that's the character he showed in that huge run chase against Bengal."

Raman recalls that partnership “I still remember that partnership against Bengal. We were in the game though we were chasing close to 600. He was rock solid taking care of one end. It needed a snorter to get him that day. The moment he got out to that unplayable delivery, I knew the final day would be difficult as the pitch was getting worse.”

"Players like PC Prakash, R Madhavan and NP Madhavan were real nice guys on and off the field. Unfortunately, being a ‘nice guy’ did not always work in their favour in TN cricket."

When Western Australia came back for the return leg in September 1989, PCP forged big partnership with VBC twice in succession prompting Graeme Wood to pronounce that Prakash was the most difficult batsman to dislodge but by this time he was on a downward curve. He failed miserably in the Ranji season that year and gave way to the new generation of cricketers.

A new addition to the cricketing family

If there was not already enough chit chat in the family on cricket, he added another cricketing member with TN wicket keeper from the 1980s D Girish marrying Prakash's sister. And ever since, there has been nothing other TN cricket discussion at home. Girish now heads the TNPL council.

S Srinivasan played for Bombay and TN in the Ranji Trophy. He was PCP’s captain at Viveka and shared many good partnerships for SPIC in the late 1980s “PCP was a highly dependable top order batsman. His batting & fielding techniques were picture perfect. He played as straight as possible. To excel in any Sports at the top level, it is advantageous if one is an athlete first & then a good player. He comes under that category of athletic players. His fielding was always brilliant due to his athleticism.”

"Despite not making it to the top (playing for India), he was at peace with himself & easily approachable to others. His great love for the game was seen in the way he has continued to associate himself with the game in various capacities. He is a well respected teacher who is still a great student of the great game."

It would have been a different story had he converted the starts in key matches into big hundreds but surprisingly long hours of concentration that had been a hallmark of his batting gave way at crucial moments in his career. He continued to play for SPIC for ten years till the mid 1990s. When an offer came from HCL to promote a cricket team in the league, he took that up and played for two years building a team. It had always been appa’s dream to get Mambalam Mosquitos into the first division. When it entered the top league in 2000, he formed a strong team investing a lot of money. PCP had just left for the US after his Engineer wife found an IT job there. But PCP’ mind was on cricket back home and he headed back to the city grounds to play at the start of the season. 

For five years from 2002, he was a state selector under VBC’s Chairmanship. With an eye of coaching, he went through the levels and has for the last 15years been engaged in coaching assignments including donning the role of the TN batting coach just over a decade ago. 

A Master Class at SPIC - past 50

Over the last decade, he was back at the SPIC ground that had been his home for over a decade. Well past 50, the passion at the batting crease had not diminished one bit. He had been a regular in the T20 in ter club circuit, something that you would not easily associate PCP with. He may have seemed a bit out of place but his philosophy remained unchanged- "Do not give away your wicket, Do not hit ball in the air and find the gaps in the field to strike your boundaries". He could not be dismissed even in those T20 matches and contributed with the bat in no small measure for the Alumini club playing delectable square drives and flicks bringing back memories from the 1980s. 

In addition to playing a bit of T20 cricket, he has also been a coach of a TNPL team. For a man who rarely hit the ball in the air throughout his playing days, this was an interesting experience to be around coaching boys for whom fanciful shots was an integral part of their armoury.

Not often do you find someone living a cricketing life day in day out for over five decades. But for this 60 year old Engineer his entire life has centered around cricket. He currently manages three cricket teams in the TNCA league in addition to donning the role of the coach at the TNCA Academy. With the new season of TNPL likely to start end of June after a Covid break, PC Prakash could well be back this year as a coach. The hair may have gone blonde but one simply cannot keep this maveric away from a cricket ground!!!