Kaushik M Gandhi TN Opener TNPL Captain

3 Palayampatti shields, a VAP Trophy and 3 TNPL wins has made 'Thatha' one of the most successful captains in recent times in TN cricket

Kaushik knows how to score runs and has it in him to succeed in all three formats for TN – Monty Desai, West Indian Batting Coach

“He is level headed, well-mannered and temperamentally very good. You get very few cricketers like him these days” – Bharath Reddy, Cricketing Chief, Jolly Rovers

TN Opening Batsman and TNPL’s most successful captain Kaushik M Gandhi hails from the Patriotic village of Gandhigram near Dindigul. His grandfather Padmanabhan lived a life on Gandhian principles and took great care of the villagers helping the downtrodden. It is a philosophy the 32 year old TN cricketer follows to this day helping those from his ancestral village. While the next generation (his father and his siblings) had moved to Madras, Kaushik was the first son in his generation to be born in Gandhigram and thus as was the tradition in the century gone by, his ancestral village came to be tagged on to his name. Much later, former South Zone fast bowler J Gokulakrishnan who first spotted the cricketing talent in Kaushik also gave him the ‘Thatha’ nickname that has come to stay with him over the last decade and a half. While Gokulakrishnan pulled him up with this nickname on one of Kaushik’s lazy cricketing sessions at the nets, it (Thatha) went well as it coincided with his actual name (Gandhi)!!!

Spotted by Gokul, Mentored by Madan

He was just 15 when Gokulakrishnan referred Kaushik to his brother JR Madanagopal, former South Zone batsman and now ICC umpire, to shape the teenager, who at that time was primarily an off spinner. 

             Former TN bowling coach spotted Kaushik's cricketing potential

By this time, there had been a number of developments on his personal front. Family circumstances had led him to the residential school in La Chatelaine in Valsarvakkam when he was not yet into his teens. His amma, Bhama, now the CFO at Lalitha Jewellary, was keen for him to have a good academic life and La Chatelaine was renowned for taking good care of the Boarders. The school was not known for cricket and the young boy who had in his early St. Michaels (Adyar) days developed great interest in football was now back into that game. Thankfully (for the cricketing world), one of those boys who had been his summer camp mate at St Bedes saw him at the football practice and informed the PD about his cricketing skills. For a short period, he had tried his hand at fast bowling as the school was always short on players but he now got back to off spin. 

A Big Moment in School Cricket

The biggest highlight of those cricketing days at La Chatelaine was the school winning the TNCA tournament against all odds beating PSBB, Santhome and Chettinad on the way to the trophy with Kaushik coming up with an all-round performance. This delighted the school management and they provided every support that a cricketer would look for, till the time he completed his schooling.

This section had featured a story in 2018 on the school’s founder Ambi Rajagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/12/ambi-rajagopal-viveka-fine-arts.html) and his vision for the students. This engagement with Kaushik was another standout example of how they supported a promising youngster after getting to know of his cricketing interests. 

Kaushik was an integral part of the state team in junior cricket and was at the NCA and Spin Foundation camps as well. The school management dropped and picked him up in their Bolero car every time he had a big cricketing assignment. The school’s support is something Kaushik is grateful to this day.

The Formative Years at Grand Slam

Madanagopal is just back from a hectic fortnight anchoring a national camp for BCCI umpires ahead of the new first class season. He has been Kaushik’s mentor over the last 15+years and recalls his early days with Kaushik when he was an off spinner “He was playing 5th division cricket and then moved into 3rd division. While he was a promising off spinner, what stood out for me in him was his attitude. I found he was ‘Coachable’.”

Madan’s association with Kaushik coincided with him taking charge of Grand Slam CC in the first division. He had retired as a first class cricketer and had become an umpire along with his close friend former Kerala Ranji leggie KN Ananthapadmanabhan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/ananthapadmanabhan-kn.html). In the first season that he was handed the captaincy of Grand Slam, the team just about managed to stave off relegation. From 3rd division cricket, Madan handpicked him for Grand Slam as an off spinner and middle order bat “Kaushik was still at school and it may have been a little early, but I was confident that he had it in him to adapt to first division cricket.”

This was one of the many bold calls Madan took with Kaushik in that phase. “He got only limited chances in those first two years but in the opportunities he got he gave glimpses of his abilities. His first wicket was the prized one of S Ramesh. And then in a knock out match he got the crucial wicket of M Vijay batting in his 90s.”

From being almost relegated, Grand Slam won the Palayampatti shield in the 2nd year under Madanagopal with a team comprising of upcoming youngsters. It was an underrated team and not many took them seriously. At the start of the season, it would have inconceivable for the team to beat any of the top teams in the first division but they surprised every opposition beating the fancied ‘Big Brother’ Vijay CC twice that season and then beating Jolly Rovers in the final. 

In this phase, Mentor Madan picked Kaushik from his home on the morning of the match and the two of them went together to the ground discussing cricket on the way. “While he got crucial wickets and provided us important breakthroughs with the ball, he contributed well with the bat as well especially in partnership with Sriram Krishnamurthy in the middle order. I found that he was unfazed and showed good temperament with the bat. When the team needed him to score a few runs, he always ‘showed up’.”

It was a period when his appa, Mohan, a cricketer at Port Trust and an Umpire, passed away. But by this time he had built great mental strength and he did not allow the loss to impact him negatively.

Into the third year for Grand Slam, Kaushik played two gritty knocks in the season opener against Jolly Rovers on a green top. “We were shot out for 100 on day 1 but his body language at the crease was a standout feature for me” recalls Madanagopal of Kaushik’s determined stints at the wicket on a difficult pitch.

A Perfect Team Man

Sriram Krishnamurthy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/06/sriram-krishnamurthy-high-performance.html), who forged many a crucial partnership with Kaushik during the time at Grand Slam, is the High Performance Batting Coach at NZC and the coach of Northern Districts, a side that includes international cricketers such as Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, among others.  He has also been instrumental in shaping the batting of Kiwi batting sensation Devon Conway. He was here last month coaching the Madurai Panthers to the knock out stage before he had to leave ahead of the crucial match to take over his cricketing duties in New Zealand. 

Talking to this writer from Christchurch in New Zealand where he is coaching the NZ U19s, Sriram recalls his memories of Kaushik Gandhi from the time the two played together for Grand Slam “Kaushik is a very confident and assured person. When we played together for Grand Slam in the 2007-08 first division season, in what was his 1st season in first division, 2 things stood out for me - that he was a confident person, not with his cricketing skills per se, but in life, and about how good a team player he was. He was always helping his fellow team players at practice even if he wasn't playing."

"While he may have only been 16 years then, he didn't shy away or refrain from having a laugh and chat with the older players. His personality won over many of us in the team that season and it is no surprise to see him being successful as a captain in the TNPL. He has a way around people and given his attitude towards his team being successful rather than his own individual performances, he has the ingredients to be a strong leader.”

Offie becomes an Opener 

In the fourth season, the transfer of a majority of the team members to India Cements’ top team Vijay CC opened up unexpected opportunities for Kaushik Gandhi. “I contemplated for a number of days on the composition of the team for the new season and finally decided to get Kaushik into the opener’s role. Throughout that summer, I got him to face the new ball at the nets and made him leave as many balls as possible. Also, we discussed ways and means to tackle specific new ball bowlers in the opposition one of which was the handling of Jesuraj’s bouncers.”

Photo taken by this writer over a decade ago of Madan coaching Kaushik at Viveka - the year the youngster turned from an offie to an opener

“While it was fine for me to talk about the facets of top order batting, he simply grasped every single input and practiced long hours at the nets that then translated into performance on the field” says Madan of Kaushik’s ability to grasp the finer points of batting.

From batting No. 7/8 until that point in his career, he made the big transformation into an opener against the best in first division cricket. 

Career Changing Knock

Just over a decade ago, Grand Slam turned up for the new season with a side that was unrecognizable for the year gone by. The other clubs once again did not make much of them is the same way that they had 2 years earlier. And when Jolly Rovers scored 400 plus in the season opener, the writing seemed to be on the wall for this young team “He instantly repaid the faith I had in him with a big 100 that helped us take the lead with just two wickets down. It had rarely been done in the past against Jolly Rovers. Kaushik came of age as an opener with that knock.” 

Madan says that a lot of his qualities came out in the open during that knock – levels of concentration, ability to build a long innings, discipline in batting, work ethic and hard work. 

Later that season in the semifinal, mentor and mentee came together at the batting crease and put together a big partnership with Kaushik scoring a double century and Madan a hundred against MRF. 

Amma - A Pillar of Strength

His amma has been a pillar of strength all through his teenage years and was keen for him to focus on academics. It had been her inspiration that had led him to a strong performance in Class X and XII exams at La Chatelaine “I completed my MBA and also tried my hand at ACS but by then I had made up my mind that I would be full time into cricket.”

Kaushik lauds his amma for her independent outlook to life "I am financially well off now that she can lead a happy retired life at home but she insists on continuing to work and playing a key role as a CFO. And like a loving grand mother, she always surprises us with gifts for my kids."

The Ranji Call

It was a big moment for him when he received the Ranji call. In his second Ranji game, he scored 80 against MP but did not play a single game in the next couple of years. This section had long ago questioned the non selection under the chairmanship of B. Kalyanasundaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/01/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram-selector-match.html). 

Best Phase in Cricket

2016-17 was a big year for him in cricket scoring close to 800runs including a double hundred against Jaspit Bumrah and 150+ knocks against MP and Punjab. Interestingly, he played in all the one day games that season for TN, scored a century and was second only to Dinesh Karthik in the aggregate anf followed that up with another good one day performance the next year. The Ranji performances that season earned him a Duleep Trophy debut at the start of the next season in September 2017 where in the only match that he played he scored 39 in a rain affected game. He has not played another Zonal game since!!

"After the success that season, I had the belief that I could go on to play 60-70 Ranji games for TN and end up with a batting average in the mid 40s."

TNPL Success under Gokul and Madan

This phase was also transformational for Kaushik in another way. Till then, most had seen him as a long format player who had the ability to grind his way in a multi-day format. Just ahead of the TNPL, he bagged the Player of the Tourney award in the T20 tournament organized by the TNCA where he scored two 90s. This section featured a story in September 2016 as to how Kaushik Gandhi was Madan's first pick in the TNPL (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/tnpl-gokulakrishnan-madanagopal.html). He counts as his blessing Madan being the coach in that first year in TNPL for he could easily relate to the T20 with his mentor around “Madan gave me the blueprint of how I should play in T20 cricket.”

Monty Desai’s TNPL mentoring

Monty Desai now the batting coach of West Indies was closely involved with Kaushik Gandhi in the first two years of the TNPL as the Mentor of Tuti Patriots. He was kind enough to take time off hours after West Indies’ defeat against the Kiwis in the first T20 to talk to this writer sporting the colourful maroon West Indian shirt from Kingston, Jamaica about his experience with Kaushik Gandhi in those two years “He was a touch player who timed the ball well. His biggest plus was that he absorbed info well in the right way, processed it carefully and applied it in the match."

It was Monty Desai who along with Gokulakrishnan and Madanagopal who identified a role and created boundary options for Kaushik in T20 cricket “He was clear in his mind, his skill execution was excellent and was always ‘situationally’ aware. He was ‘Perfection Personified’ for us in those two years.”

When Monty pushed him into a crucial role at the top of the order after a discussion with the leadership team that included Dinesh Karthik, Kaushik answered with a T20 century.  “He has got options for strokes and a good defensive technique. More importantly, he knows how to score runs. He brought into play at the batting crease all the pre match discussions we had with him. I think he has it in him to score big in all three formats of the game for TN.”

“He is also a captaincy material for he keeps his emotions well under control and looks at achieving the goals by being task oriented” says Monty. 

By this time, he joined Income Tax where unlike many other cricketers, Kaushik works whenever he is away from cricket and has already picked up a promotion after writing an exam "The effort that I had put for ACS inter helped me clear this exam easily as I had already read some of the subjects during my ACS preparation."

Watching The Reds and Cricket Captaincy

He has been a Man U fan from his childhood days and their performance in recent years has left him a bit sad. While like most of the diehard followers, he remains committed to the Manchester Club and hopes that the good old glory days will be back soon, he takes a lot of learning from each of these matches especially on the tactical front and on how players should be managed. He says that watching Man Utd’s matches has been a big learning for him on the captaincy front. He also spends time playing indoor football whenever he is free with his old mates from St. Michaels.

Level Headed and Well Mannered

After 9 years at Grand Slam, Kaushik moved to Jolly Rovers six years ago and has led them to three first division titles and a VAP tourney victory. Bharath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) of his team captain “He is level headed, well-mannered and temperamentally very good. You get very few cricketers like that these days. He is in the same mould as Madanagopal. He always puts the team interest first and takes great care of his teammates.”

Gokulakrishnan, who spotted Kaushik when he was in his early teens, echoes Bharath Reddy’s sentiments “He is a smart, hardworking and honest cricketer. Most importantly, he is a very good human being.”

”Though he is 30+, if he manages to score 1000 runs in the upcoming Ranji season in a tough group for TN, he could still make it to the top in Indian cricket. He is a good long version player and will be an asset to the TN team” says Bharath Reddy of the immediate prospects for Kaushik.

What's in store in cricket?

From starting off as an off-spinner who chipped in with crucial runs down the order, Kaushik Gandhi has come a long way and established himself as a solid opener. It has not been easy at the state level where he has not always got a consistent run in, especially in the initial years. Out of his 30 odd games for TN spread over a decade, almost a third have come in a single season (16-17).But like his mentor Madanagopal(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html?m=1) who too did not get the rub of the green in the 1990s despite a strong performance for the state, Kaushik is all too clear of his role in cricket. As a batsman, his focus is on scoring as many runs as possible to give himself the best chance for state selection. As a captain, he has always looked to get the best out of every single team mate of his and found joy in helping others succeed. He has the best captaincy record in the TNPL with three trophies under his belt. Like Madan, he too is liked by one and all in the cricketing circle for he genuinely cares for his fellow cricketers.

He has not yet made his debut for TN in the T20 format. His captaincy success in the TNPL should make him a contender for the captaincy role not just in T20 but in other formats as well for TN. With talks in TN cricketing circles on winning trophies, Kaushik has a proven track record to match the best in the business here in terms of victories as a captain. He still cherishes the dream of playing over a half a century of Ranji matches for the state. He has the appetite for scoring big runs in multi day games and has developed the strokes to succeed in white ball cricket. One will have to wait and watch as to how the new season unfolds for him. 

At a later point in life, it is likely that he will take to Umpiring like his appa, Mohan, and mentor Madan.