At 21, the Somasundaram ground bred YSCA Guru Product left for Bombay despite being in the TN Ranji reserves and took them by storm with two big hundreds in U22 tourney
'Just Cheena' came back to Madras, marketed himself with S Sriraman and scored a big hundred in his comeback match after injury
In his 2nd innings, he has created a great platform for his two daughters having dedicated his life to them as a single parent while at the same time becoming a successful real estate player
Less than an hour to the start of a TNPL match exactly same time last year, this writer received a surprise message that Vimal Khumar, son of my YMCA TSR and league teammate from the 1980s TN Ramachandran, was in the playing XI that evening’s game for the first time that season. The message came to me from former Bombay and TN Ranji cricketer S Srinivasan. And how? The former SVPB cricketer marketed for the southpaw to be included in the playing XI with the management (S Badrinath) of Dindigul Dragons!!! Srinivasan called it the Bombay way of marketing a young talent. Interestingly it was not the first time he marketed a cricketer for he promoted his own self with none other than the legendary S Sriraman in 1983 when he was in his 20s!!! And similar to Vimal, Srinivasan too got picked for the TN Ranji side soon after his marketing exercise and he responded with a big century. He was also the one who as youngster in his early 20s took a big call in the 1970s to move to Bombay to give his cricket career a fillip though he had spent this entire formative years playing cricket at the Somasundaram ground in T Nagar and later for TN schools and the Madras University. Here’s the story.
Another YSCA Gurumurthy team product, Srinivasan spent his entire childhood at the Somasundaram Ground playing alongside the likes of TA Sekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-architect-behind-worlds-best.html) and leggie S Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/rbi-madhavan-leg-spinner.html). Even as a tennis ball player, he developed the big innings temperament and the penchant for big hundreds. Like most in that group, he began his league cricket for Guru’s team in the lower division and then moved up the ladder. Very early on his life, he had made up his mind that cricket was going to be his way of life for a long time “My appa was a self-made man and he wanted me to be one. He did not force academics on to me and gave me the freedom to take to cricket as a way of life. Cricket was my strength and I pursued that” he told this writer at the 3rd floor flat in RA Puram that is testimony to his creative abilities in the real estate space with sunlight beaming into his house all times in the day.
It was his big performances for RKM that earned him a place in the city schools team and then in the state schools under Bharath Reddy.
Cricket Politics but appa’s lifetime ‘Destiny’ message
It was then that he had the taste of cricket politics. He recounts his first sad moments in cricket “I scored 167 for TN schools but did not find a place in the South Zone XI replaced by the ‘Kerala Cricketing Clout’. I had performed exceptionally under Bharath Reddy and a good performance for SZ would have taken me to England with the Indian Schools team. It was not to be. It left me wondering for the first time in life as to what more I had to do to gain selection.”
"When my appa saw me sitting in a corner disappointed at the non selection, he gave me a message that has stood with through all the highs and lows in life and given me the strength to face life. Its all destiny he told me and accept everything in life as it comes."
Former TN middle order batsman PC Prakash(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/04/pc-prakash-tn-ranji-1980s.html), who played under Srinivasan for Vivekananda College, endorses this attitude of Srinivasan "We have had some great conversations about cricket. He has never been bitter about the past despite not fulfilling his batting potential at the Ranji level. He has accepted what life has given him."
"Though I missed out on the UK tour, Bharath Reddy was kind enough to get me a Gray Nicolls bat with which I scored a lot of runs" Srinivasan recalls of the gesture from his Schools captain.
The College Years - Prolific run getter
He played four years for Vivekananda College and captained them to three trophies in a year. Former IOB opener Rocko M Sundar remembers Srinivasan from the Vivekananda college days “My earliest memory of Srinivasan is that of a 16 year old lad who joined Vivekananda College as a cricketer having represented TN State Schools. I distinctly remember his first innings for the college. He scored 24 runs and all of them were boundaries, authoritative square cuts in the mould of G.R. Viswanath. He was a dashing stroke maker then and only subsequently changed his approach & curbed his stroke play.”
Great Learner
Sundar was part of the Viveka College gang that met regularly at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore and recounts Srinivasan's learning abilities "Srinivasan would join us at the Nageswara Rao Park where we assembled every evening after the college. Often he sought advice from senior cricketers like P. K. Dharmalingam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/06/pk-dharmalingam.html), V Krishnaswamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html), Shivu & others. He was a keen learner, who put the knowledge gained to good use, which saw him scale to the Ranji level after his college days".
Prakash too recalls the favourite square off the wicket shots of Srinivasan "His ‘down on one knee square drive’ was a treat to watch. On the back of big success in schools cricket, he was a bit brash and over confident at that time. He had a hunger for runs and all of us looked up to him as a hero at college. He was stylish and technically very sound and a prolific run getter for the college and at the University level.”
The transformational Colts Tour
The tour to Bombay with the TN Colts was an eye opener for Srinivasan. While he struggled to graduate from the schools and university performances into first division scores on matting wickets, he struck gold on the turf wickets in Bombay against the best of bowlers and topped the aggregate impressing Annadurai, the manager on that tour.
'Just' when he was set to play for TN, he took an unprecedented call to move to Bombay to pursue his cricketing dreams “Following my success during the Collegiate years and the form I showed in Bombay on the colts tour, I was confident that I had it in me to reach the top batting on the turf wickets."
Srinivasan says that by then Delhi opener Venkat Sundaram had already invited him to the capital suggesting that big runs for Delhi would fast track his growth with the presence of Bedi there but he had to reject that offer for he had no support plans in Delhi in terms of job and accommodation. His appa was working in Bombay and that made it easier for him to take the Bombay call as contrasted with the opportunity in Delhi.
Destiny plays out again - positively this time
In the inter university final in Mysore, he had scored a double hundred that helped him get into the TN Ranji reserves. But here he was taking the call to let go TN and moving to an ‘unknown’ state to further his cricket career. “At that time, I dreamt big. It was a huge step for me but I believed that big runs in Bombay would offer a faster growth path in cricket.”
Takes Bombay by storm
The Bombaiites had been impressed with his Colts performances and his appa spoke to SBI’s India star Ajit Wadekar and Sharad Diwakar on the prospects for his son. The latter asked him to talk to Sunil Gavaskar. “It was co-incidental that ACC was looking for players and Gavaskar asked me to come to Bombay. I boarded the Bombay mail with one ‘Petty’ and went for the interview. I received my appointment letter as a clerk at a monthly salary of Rs. 350. The mandate was clear – to make big runs for ACC in every match.”
He was playing alongside Gavaskar for ACC!!! “Gavaskar taught me the importance of back lift and its variations on fast and slow pitches. Big hundreds was his message to me.”
Srinivasan and appa Sankaran with Legend Gavaskar
National Camp along with Kapil and Kirti Azad
He was also picked in the month long residential national camp at CCI conducted by Colonel Hemu Adikari alongside Kapil Dev, Kirti Azad, Shivlal Yadav Yograj Singh, Arshad Ayub and Gopal Sharma, all of who went on to play for India. A few months after the camp, Kapil went on the tour to Pakistan “The hidden dream right then was to play for the country.”
No Parochial Bias- Legend Manjrekar stands by him
The very next season, he was in the Bombay Ranji team alongside Ashok and Rahul Mankad, Eknath Solkar, Padmakar Shivalkar and Ghulam Parkar. Asked if there was the ‘outsider feeling’ in the team, he recalls the strong message from legendary Vijay Manjrekar “There had been questions about my selection leading to the Ranji season in 1978. They had already picked me for Bombay U22 and the selectors used that logic to silence the ‘political’ critics. Legend Vijay Manjrekar had a big heart and no parochial bias. Those with talent and performances found a place in his team. It was a great feeling to be in the Bombay dressing room at 22 and to bat at No. 4 in that line up.”
Ranji Debut for Bombay
Srinivasan scored 21 in his only Ranji Trophy innings for Bombay in the season opener in November 1978. He knew that the big stars were coming back for the second match and his career in Bombay depended on that one innings against Baroda “Had I converted that start to a big hundred my cricketing life would have been different. Once again, as my appa has said all his life, it was all destiny.”
Unfortunately, with Gavaskar and Vengsarkar back from the Pakistan tour and available for the rest of the season, Srinivasan never got another chance to play and decided to return to Madras the next summer.
1979 - Back with a Bang in Madras
Srinivasan exploded in the first division league on the back of the confidence from his stint in Bombay. He began with a double century against RBI and was in rampant form in the league that led to his immediate selection in the TN Ranji team. After a short unbeaten knock innings in the season opener, he came up against a top notch Karnataka side. He knew a big innings against Chandra, Vijayakrishna and Bhat would have stabilized his presence in the TN Batting lineup. He had been struck with Madras Eye that week but was ready to bat. 'Just' when he was beginning to stroke the ball well, Chandra cleaned him up.
Chandra shatters his early TN dream
K Balaji (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-blossoming-cricket-career-was-cut.html) was in prime form in the 1970s before giving up serious cricket at 24. He went in to bat after Srinivasan’s dismissal in the Ranji match in Bangalore against Karnataka, one that this writer listened to every ball without a break on the radio (Kannada Commentary-https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/domesticindia-cricket-matches-1979-1983.html) and recalls the ripper from Chandra that ended Srinivasan’s 1979 season “The ball pitched outside leg and took the top of the off stump. It was an unplayable delivery.”
Srinivasan and Balaji had earlier played together for the Madras University. Balaji remembers Srinivasan as a sincere and conscientious cricketer. “He took to his batting very seriously, was earnest in his approach and showed great application. His sincerity in approach was reinforced with the success he had in Bombay. It was a great achievement for a cricketer from Madras to take the step to go to Bombay at that young age and be accepted there at the top level. One had to have self-confidence and great belief in oneself to go to Bombay and compete with the best. He had that in great abundance in the 1970s.”
Ranji Trophy winning captain and team mate for over a decade at SPIC, S Vasudevan echoes Balaji's sentiment "He was one of the most sincere cricketers of the time. Cheena was a solid middle order batsman and a very good fielder both close in and in the outfield."
Srinivasan says that the ball from Chandra shattered his confidence and it took time for him to recover “I was batting well with TE and playing Chandra confidently treating him like a medium pacer when he foxed me with that beauty. The ball just removed the off bail. It shattered me completely. Kirmani consoled me saying that it would have got the best in the world. You got very limited opportunities in those days and one had to make full use of them. I was destined to get that unplayable ball from Chandra that sent me packing for the rest of the season."
Srinivasan was dropped after failing to convert the two starts in this match and did not play again that season. He did get a couple of chances the next year including in the Quarter Final against Haryana but failed to capitalise on the opportunities.
All Style - Dress, Pads and his English
SVPB’s Soundararajan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html?m=1) was looking to build a strong club from Udumalpet and Srinivasan joined Peter Fernandez and NP Madhavan in the 1980s to present a formidable batting order for the districts club. This writer watched a lot of his innings' for SVPB from day one of his stint with the Udumalpet team.
SVPB opener for a couple of decades, S Sukumar, was one of the earliest to arrive in Udumalpet. He had joined them from Salem. He offers a different perspective of Srinivasan from the four years that he saw him closely at the club. "Having coming from Bombay, he had learned the art of playing in the 'V'. He also brought an 'outsider's' style into Coimbatore cricket. He was always stylishly dressed. Even his pads stood out from the rest and wore stylish ones. His English stood out among the team members. His constant use of 'Just' ended up in him being named as 'Just' Cheena."
A Knee Surgery and Dr. Zaman's Inspiration
He was injured while playing for SVPB at the American College in Madurai and underwent a knee surgery in 1981 that kept him out of cricket for a while. He credits Dr. Zaman for his recovery and his entry back into the TN Ranji team “Dr Zaman from Australia (his daughter Peggy Zaman played tennis and was sportswoman of the year in the late 1980s) recommended me to Sundararajan who was into sports medicine. I was in clutches and had to do sand walking and use sand bags as a tool to get the knee strengthened.”
“Dr Zaman was an inspirational person and gave me the confidence that I can wear the baggy blue TN Cap again. He motivated me to get back into the TN side.”
Former Ranji opener UR Radhakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/03/ur-radhakrishnan.html) started his cricket career with SVPB in the early 1980s. His emergence as a young boy coincided with Srinivasan’s arrival at the Udumalpet club “He was a dedicated and a neat cricketer and showed me the way to play a big innings. He would never throw his wicket away. I learned a lot playing along with him in my early growing up years at SVPB.”
Memorable 175 N.O for Coimbatore
PR Ramakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/10/pr-ramakrishnan-coimbatore-cricketer.html) is now a renowned lawyer in Coimbatore. He had been in the TN Ranji squad for four years in the early 1970s but did not play a single match and returned to his home town to pursue his profession. He played for the Coimbatore Districts till the mid 1980s and recalls Srinivasan from that phase “To go to Bombay in the late 1970s and break into that team as a batsman was a phenomenal achievement. It was considered almost impossible for a batsman from Madras to do that. He brought that experience and confidence into Coimbatore and scored runs aplenty. While I was at the receiving end of many of his superb knocks for SVPB for he scored big against Ramakrishna Steels, I also batted together with him for Coimbatore Districts and was impressed with his technical soundness. He batted No.3 and I followed in at No. 4 and hence many a time we batted together and forged good partnerships. The big century against Salem in the SS Rajan final was a standout knock that I remember.”
Ramki, like most others in the cricketing circuit, has found him to be a good friend after the playing days “Off the field, he was a nice bloke to get on with and we have kept up our friendship over the last four decades. I am really happy that he has done well for himself in the real estate space.”
He is people friendly and always has a good word about his fellow cricketers from the 70s and 80s.
Talks his way into the TN Ranji team
In the first game after the injury, he scored a century in the league. It was that big century (175 NO) in the SS Rajan Trophy final for Coimbatore against Salem that got him back into the reckoning but not before he had marketed himself with Sriraman “I had scored big runs that season but didn’t get picked for the Gopalan Trophy match in Sri Lanka in January 1983. I went to Sriraman and asked him as to what more I had to do to get picked for TN. A month later I was in the squad.”
With R Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/r-madhavan-tn-cricketer-1980s.html) getting injured in Sri Lanka against Rumesh Ratnayake, Srinivasan got picked and scored 148 in a double century stand with his SVPB team mate NP Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html)in the pre quarter final game against UP helping TN recover from a tricky situation. In the next match he scored a half century against Delhi in the 2nd inning in a big partnership with CS Suresh Kumar to help TN avoid outright defeat.
Best 12 months in cricket
At the start of the next season, he had a memorable century partnership with R Madhavan on that unplayable morning at Chinnaswamy Stadium against Karnataka in December 1983 to help TN recover from losing three wickets for three runs in the first few minutes on the first morning. Following his half century, he had a good outing against Andhra and then helped TN seal an outright victory against Hyderabad with an unbroken 70+ partnership with Jabbar when the team was stuttering in its 200 plus chase. In the big knock out game against Delhi, he scored another century though he failed in the crucial first innings. It had been a satisfying 12months for Srinivasan and it was to turn out to be the best phase for him in Ranji cricket having scored over 500runs since making a comeback in February 1983.
He was in and out the next year though he had an opportunity to shine against his former Ranji team Bombay when TN played them in the knock out. Unfortunately Srinivasan failed in both the innings and that signaled the end of his career with the next generation of batsmen making their way into the TN team.
It had been his dream to play club cricket in Australia and he received an invitation from Waverley CC (Tony Grieg and Geoff Boycott played for them) in the mid 1980s but once again destiny played its role and he could not get his visa through. Almost 35 years later, through Indian bowling coach B Arun, he managed to get a special ticket to watch India’s great win in Sydney, where he also met his old TN Schools mate ES Nataraj.
Cricket to success in Real Estate
At his peak in the second half of the 70s, Srinivasan had cherished the India dream like any young cricketer and his big scores for TN schools, Madras University, TN Colts and then his rapid rise in Bombay at the U22 level and his debut in the Ranji Trophy seemed to lead one to believe that he was in the right direction to reach the top of the cricketing ladder. He did play a few crucial innings in the early 1980s, but faded away not fulfilling the potential he had.
After a decade at SPIC where he worked alongside S Vasudevan and PC Prakash, among other cricketers, he moved away from cricket into entrepreneurship in the real estate sector where he has carved a name for himself over the last two decades. He did a lot of the marketing ground work for the popular Venus Constructions in the late 1990s /early 2000s. Despite the loss of his wife at a young age, Srinivasan displayed great resolve, as a single parent, in bringing up his two daughters, Megha and Manmitha, who both went to the Singapore University. Over the last two decades, taking care of them and making them independent in life has been his first job, says Srinivasan. “I am delighted that both of them are doing very well now in life.” And that is what is giving him the most joy at the moment.
145 comments:
What a beautiful story! The parts about him playing square cuts and drives actually got me to visualise those shots (and later his constant use of 'just') as i was reading.
To accept things as they came at a young age shows great maturity and explains his success with a bunch of big scores later. The positive messages from his friends and teammates adds to his success. Beautifully written and brought to life!
He did help me sell my flat in Chetpet ten years ago.
The last para is what I enjoyed the most! A life of ups and downs for sure but another great story.
Super write up Prabhu. Keep going
Wow. That sums up the cricketer Cheenu's career very vividly. Kudos to Prabhu.
I know Mr.Srinivasan from our college days,in fact I am his fan,he narrowly missed playing in Test,his square cuts are awesome as good as G.R.Viswanath’s (as told in this blog),his second innings as Realtor he is doing very well 🙏🏽
Very good article on S Srinivasan. He was a solid bat and he also likes carnatic music.
It was nice and thrilling to read about 'our boy' Vasu. Congrats and God bless.
Kudos for a just coverage. You have missed nothing
Well written blog..brings back memories of school and university cricketing days!
Hi Cheenu It is a well written article and, yes, if you had come to Delhi maybe fate would have been different. Well that's life.
You are very gracious to remember our discussions that took place decades ago.
Great that your daughters are well settled and life is moving on.
Take care .
👏👏👏👏👏what a life....how wonderfully you have spent your space and time...💓my salutes
Mr.Srinivasan - very good coverage of a committed and talented cricketer in you throughout your young age and a successful realter later making your lovely daughters, Megha & Manmita, feel very proud of their father. You also certainly feel happy & proud of your affectionate & successful daughters who were well groomed by you to be very independent and do always what they like to do in life and what is right for them. What else you need in life - you got everything what one dreams of - a peaceful and self-fulfilling life. You are a good friend and a good father !! 🙏🏼
Good to read Prabhu's article about you.
You have captured his cricketing career very well.👍👍
Dear Srini
Truly appreciate your indomitable, ‘never say die’ approach to life in general.
I have always known you as one of the most pleasant persons that I have come across.
You ought to feel legitimately proud of all your accomplishments and my sincere admiration in bringing up two wonderful girls.
Congrats !!
With sincere admiration,
Ravi
Beautiful Article Sri
Just Superb
Enjoyed Just like your square cut.
👍💐👍
God bless
Aptly brought about your background and achievements. 👏👏👏
It was marvellous. We were not aware of your great achievements, particularly in cricket.
May God bless you.
Congratulations
Well done. I didn’t know that you were a cricketer
Seenu, What a great Fighting cricketer. Your experience in the Life touches me. This is enough. You have achieved every thing as a cricketer. I pray for your long Life. My blessing and good wishes to your wonderful Daughters. Ultimately I want you to train young Deserving cricketers in Tamilnadu. Superb👍Biography
Great write up Srini. I well remember those square drives with you on one knee. Your smile brings cheer to everyone and we can all learn from your positive attitude to life.
Indeed Srini was a cricketer par excellence. Played pace and spin very well. He had ability, agility and mobility on the field. He could rally around his team mates to take on the best of the opposition.
Ohhhh, what an ups & downs in your life. But you have proved as a big cricketer and great human being. God bless you for very good health and long peaceful life. Also praying God for great future to your sweet daughters 👏👏👍🤙🙌🤝
Super Srini. Excellent.
Cheena, Prabhu has done *just* ice leaving no stone unturned.💐🎊
Nice write up, Cheena.
Such an interesting and wonderful article 👏👏👏👏. Amazing sir. 💐💐💐💐
( Vimal Khumar's mother)】
What a story, Cheena. Proud of you. God bless 🙏
Great article Seena.
Natarajan,
Coimbatore, WK
Fantastic write up. Your parents and kids must be proud.
It's a great article. .👍
Super Sir. Padhu, Fitness Coach
Nice article and a commentary. Proud of you. Best Wishes. G Sivakumar, Alwarpet WK
Great Srinivasan👏👏🌺🌺🌹🌹Rajesh, Yoga Guru
We are really proud of you 👏
Sriraman, Astro
Very nice sir 😊👍🙏🏽
R Sridharan
Advocate
A true achiever who took a decision to retire because he is simple and unassuming. God bless.
Kannuswamy
Viveka WK
Very proud of you Cheenu.
Sundararajan
Auditor
Congrats Cheenu, nicely written by Prabhu.
ES Nataraj
Delightful Srini. More insights into your life. It impressed my son Dhruv a great deal. Great to hear the girls are doing great.
Neelu
Wow! Super Srini. 👍🙏
Ramdas
Nice, Cheenu. All the best.
Balaji Krishnamurthy
Kalakkare Cheenu 👌
Raghunathan
Great Srini. Nice and good old memories. 👍
Naga
Stanchart
Long read but I enjoyed every word of it. It showcases the grit and determination of you and the struggles you had to face due to the high level politics of the game.👍🏼
Balachander
Royal Sundaram
👏👏Got to know your full cricket history. 👌👍
Natarajan
Wow, what achievement you had in cricket.
Priya Sabesun
APPA JUST READ THE ARTICLE!!! Feeling so so so so so so proud appa ❤️❤️❤️
You are truly my 🌟 too.
Megha/ Manmitha
Great Vasu👏👏👍👌inspiring😊yesterday I was talking about you to one Mr.Manjit Singh, Director of Delhi District Cricket Club. In Cricket, we know only you and after you, we know Gavaskar & Sachin😊He was telling that he was also a cricketer and is a close friend of Rohan and Jai Shah. Arun Jaitley's long time friend. You can meet him, if you want, during your next visit to Delhi.
Shanthi Sundararaman
Delhi Advocate
No doubt nostalgic moments 👨vasu
Vasu ,
I generally read all articles of interest. But for this blog writer “ No words , just applause”
Well articulated your cricketing life journey.
Good luck.
Subramaniam
IBM Bangalore .
Superb Write up Cheena. Well compiled & chronicled.
P Mukund
Very good Cheena. After reading this, I came to know your achievements. 👍🙏
Thiagarajan
Viveka
Super article Just
Nice article Cheena
Lovely Article Cheena
Super Cheena
Just super article da.
Well done
Wow! Super Cheena. 👏👏
Very good article cheena
Vichu
Wow.. very well covered auto biography of you as a cricketer. He has done an excellent job. So many want to have their life to be documented but for you it has happened.very very happy for you. 🎉💐👍
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE.....After I read this, one movie dialogue came to my mind. Rajinikanth movie.... Thillu Mullu....he also used to refer his father's words.👌🙂
Amazing attitude. Enviable one. So proud and happy to know about you. Best prayers.
Venkataraman
Additional Solicitor General of India
Srini was GRV of Tamilnadu.
Guys, it’s time to meet again and celebrate Srini's achievements.
Meenakshi Ganesh
Am his sister . I am the last . Fortunately I got to see his style when I was growing up with him. He keeps his belongings with so much care which includes me. What a well written article about him. So proud to call him eldest brother.
What a beautiful write up Achu appa. So proud of you. He brought out your entire cricket career so beautifully.. Only now I know about your sports career in detail. Loved it ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Meenakshi
TT Coach .
Very proud to learn more about your achievements.
Raghavee
Fantastic 👌🎉💕👍
Alok Sabharwal
nice one :)
Fantastic piece Cheena!!!Hats off ..🙏👍👍
Super
Very nice article. 👌
Super Cheena
Srini hats off for great records & write up - that too in cricket world is amazing - life time achievement but still very humble person cherish rest of your life 👍
Nice to know you much and well.Good.
Very inspirational 👏 anna kudos
Much deserved and overdue.
Great write up cheena
Super Anna
Super sir
Amazing sir this is truly an inspiring story🎉🎉🎉👏👏👏👏👏😃😃
Superb Cheena a very well compiled cricket commentary on one of the most talented devoted and passionate players... very few seen in our era ....Kudos Cheena,Cheers
Superb! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Delightful reading.
Clayton
Great sir, very inspirational 👏 👍 🙏
Great sir & very inspirational 👏 👍 🙏
Fortunate to have played alongside Cheena for Vivekananda College, when he had to discontinue for better prospects in cricket. One of the finest, stylish batsmen TN has produced, certainly capable of donning national colors and going international... Only god will know why Cheena didn't make it to the levels that he richly deserved...
Superb dear, you have worked very hard in your life & God bless your daughters - warm regards Hans
👏🏻👏🏻well done Srini
Enjoyed the read and it brought back memories of my years in Viveka. Happy that you and your daughters are doing well. Cheers mate🥂 I haven't seen many youngsters who bat like you did back in the day!
Very happy and surprised to know about your cricketing career!You just missed playing for India ! If only we had IPL then!!
Great sir & very inspirational 👍👍👏👏👏
Very nice 👌 👍 👏 ... thoroughly enjoyed reading through the article- and to know more of your extraordinary cricketing exploits and highlights.... 😊
Excellent cheenaa
Always remember you as one of the finest batsmen in TN, who had international standard, but didn't make it big for reasons best known to only god...
Great read Seenu.
Best wishes
Read thro 👍👍
Have the statisticians record his new century to the history books!
Nathan Sir,
This is the best of the 100:-) Thank You.
He always went for big hundreds during his playing days and his fan following on this story endorses that.
Thank You
PRabhu
Wow ..good one 👏👏
Commendable cricketing career.
Great stuff!
Great; I am aware of your cricket skills and performance at Ranji and Club levels; did not know or aware of so many details. !
C
Congratulations
Well covered your cricket journey. First time reading so much detail about you cricket career..
Must have been a pleasure to rewind your love for the game.
Srini, you look happy. It was nice to read your blog.
Very nice article..
Just Brilliant. Very well articulated and written covering your cricketing career. Just, just be Just seen. Cheers mate. Regards Lachu
Great Vasu, excellent sum up👏👏😳👌👌
Congratulations. Such a great read.
Good to read Mr Srinivasan . Lots of interesting anecdotes and life lessons 👍
( CFO Kothari)
Chronicling your cricketing career, what is evident is what your dad advised. Destiny could have been kinder to this talented cricketer.
Shreeni,
Good write up.
Interesting
Very nice Cheena. Well done and well written.
Best wishes
Superb👍🏽
Congratulations
Very nice article 👍🏻👍🏻
Waaah beautiful 😻
Cheena, Don't I remember that innings of 200. Actually I met you for the first time that evening at the MCC. Roda & I had come over with Lalli.
Such a brilliant writeup...... Made interesting. Proud to see my friend acknowledged and appreciated after so many years. Cheers Cheena
Beautifully written article, Cheena. You deserve it. Happy to hear that your daughters are doing well in life.
Fantastic write up👌
Lovely article.
Wonderful article about your cricket and life. Made me reminisce about cricket in the 70's and 80's.Cricket has enriched our lives and brought us together in the web of many friendships. Best wishes to yourself and your accomplished daughters. Regards Mala T.E.Srinivasan
Excellent.
👏👏
Good old days Cheena- lotsa pretty good times between _“melancholy_” though!
Good write up.
Brilliant
Wonderful article Cheena. Can relate to it fully.
👍👍👍👌👌👌
Way to go Srini. You were right up there with the best. Sabash
Very nice to read about you in details. Privileged to have known you.
‘Just’ got the opportunity to read the entire article. Very inspiring🙏The writer too has done a good job in capturing all the moments of your life. 👍👍
Hello Cheeni,
Happy to read your story.
Your cricket life was full filling and your skills navigated its way on merits.
Everybody' s life gets reviewed as past gone by but nobody has a clue of the joy of travel which is personal and you alone become the true judge of your life.
What followed Cricket was a Lovely Father and an Enterprise in Trade that was Real.
Many Friends not limited by Geography and a SMILE in tact.
Keep going cheeni you can never be a loser .
Best wishes.
Very very nice write up. You remain a legend in the hearts of your well wishers
Very happy to be a part of ur life journey now , wishing all happiness, peace n prosperity
Very interesting cricketing career and well narrated by your well wishers. If only time was on your side to turn the destiny to your advantage. Surely you were a proud asset to whichever team you played.
Sooo beautiful it is, very touching.
Lovely article! Read some of the others including my old Adyar neighbour Sekar. The writer is excellent.
Excellent article and you have even mentioned meeting ES Nataraj in Australia!
Pls. keep your chin up and always be happy for all you have achieved despite all odds. As per your father’s advice, accept and embrace nature’s disposition cheerfully. No one can change what’s bound to happen. You have achieved a lot - it’s a fact. Enjoy the present!
Hello Seenu,
I read the article about you ,written by Prabhu .
First of all, let me congratulate Prabhu for analysing your life,so aptly ,
First innings and Second innings . How appropriate!
1st Innings - I am well aware of your professional achievements since you were very young . In fact,my late husband Syed Zaman ,was your biggest fan . He had the paper cutting of your 200 runs in his pocket all the time and would proudly exhibit it ,to every one ,even when they were not interested in cricket .
You played cricket with passion, determination and commitment .You deserve all the accolades . Congratulations .
Second Innings was the one that I was not a part of until about 10 years ago .
You have 2 delightful daughters, who you adore . You have been a hands on dad ,being a single parent . Your whole world revolves round them and I commend you on the way you have brought them up . They are polite, confident and secure. I believe, that every father on this planet, should take a leaf out of your book for parenting .Your love for the game of cricket and the love for your children are truly admirable. God Bless you and your beautiful girls .
Nalini Zaman
Hi Uncle Seenu,
It was a beautifully written piece highlighting your life.
Our family is very proud of you (it was also nice to see my Dad and Peggy referenced).
Both my Dad and my Mum really value the life-long friendship and loyalty that you have had with them.
I think people were generally aware of your achievements but it was especially nice to read about the impact you've made on your family, especially your daughters as well as those family and friends very close to you.
Hopefully you're having some time now to relax and reflect from the boundary, now that all the hard work and life on the pitch has been mostly done.
Akram Zaman
Very very interesting .Got to know your entire cricketing journey, which I never knew.
Your Appa's contribution behind the scene and my Pappas...very insightful.
All in all, commendable Srini.
You moved on and played your second innings off the field also very well.
Your family and specially your daughters must be very proud of you.
I played with Srinivasan in Guru team, he was my captain when we played 'tests'. I thought he would go on to play for India. Amazing talent. Is there a way I can get his contact info. Its almost 50 years since we last met! My best wishes to Srini.
Request you to email me and will share.
Prabhu
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