R Ravichandran Madras University Rohinton Baria Captain

From St. Bedes to Junior State, he captained and won everything on sight and later moved to a successful corporate career in the US

If there is a team that is chosen of those who did not make it to TN Ranji, Ravi would certainly be the Captain of that team – PR Ramakrishnan, Madras University team mate and now successful lawyer

For close to a decade, this cricketer held a unique record. He captained teams from his school to the Junior State and had a trophy under his belt at every level making him one of the most successful captains in Madras in that phase. Captaining Madras University to the Rohinton Baria Trophy  for the first time in its history and YMA (with Venkat playing under him) to a Palayampatti shield were the two biggest moments in his cricketing life. He was roped into the TN squad in the 1970s but unfortunately  he sat out an entire season donning the role of the 12th man. This Chemical Engineer worked for a couple of years at SPIC but hung his cricketing boots in his mid 20s and moved to the US where for a decade and a half he had a highly successful corporate career at Unisys and Kodak. Here’s the story.

Surrounded by Glamour

R Ravichandran had a fabulous (read glamourous!!) early life like no other cricketer in Madras. His appa Ramamoorthy who hailed from Thiru Kadaiyur (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2014/06/thiru-kadaiyur-amirtha-narayana-perumal.html) rose to great heights in the corporate world. He was the first Indian to head Kodak in India at a time when Multinational firms in India were dominated by foreigners. During the late 1960s and early 70s, he was one of the highest paid Indians in a MNC.  Being in a sector that catered to the cine industry (Kodak were into camera film and post production products), it was always gala atmosphere at home (a famous Tamil cine scriptwriter resided a few hundred yards away from his house).

Ravichandran recalls the days at home in the 1950s and 60s “The who’s who from the film industry were always at home when I returned from school. They looked up to appa for insights on the latest in film technology. It was my appa who got the owners of Gemini Colour Lab and Prasad Lab trained in the US at the Kodak headquarters. All movies were screened for us and SVS Mani and N Kumar would join me to watch those ‘exclusive premiers’. A good part of my childhood and teenage life was spent at these premiers.”

The Early cricketing days at CIT colony and Nageswara Rao Park 

His appa was a cricket enthusiast and provided great encouragement to Ravichandran during his school days. From the time he played street cricket in CIT colony and later with his friends at Nageswara Rao Park, he displayed leadership qualities and it seemed that captaincy came naturally to him. Through the 10 years of his cricket, he made No. 3 his own.  His cricket career began with him leading St. Bedes to a tournament victory against Don Bosco.

Captain Cool even during the school days

Leggie V Murali played for Parrys and was Ravichandran’s classmate at AC Tech. Later in life, he ran a coffee estate and now leads a retired life in Madras. He had many a cricketing battle against Ravichandran playing for Don Bosco against St. Bedes and then became close friends at Loyola where the two did PUC together.  

He looks back at the cricketing days in the early 60s “We beat St. Bedes in the first year on the same day that RKM beat MCC causing two big upsets in schools cricket. But the very next year, under Ravi’s captaincy, they beat us in the final. Right from that time, he was always ‘captain cool’ and was an ‘all in one cricketer’ who commanded respect from everyone. He had a princely walk to the ground even as a school boy. While he was the only one who would come in a flannel and had a top notch cricketing gear, he was always down to earth and very friendly in his approach with his teammates and the opposition. He was outstanding at the school and college level  and most of us were of the view that he would be a sure bet for Ranji but it was unfortunate that he did not play for the state. It was he who transformed cricket at AC Tech and brought us to winning ways beating the more fancied colleges.”

The Big Finals day in Schools Cricket

Ravichandran recalls playing that school final (that Murali referred to above) in front of a big crowd “It was simply overwhelming. Both the schools had declared a holiday. As a captain, it was a great experience to soak up pressure at that young age. Personally, it was a double delight - winning the tournament and contributing in the final with a half century.”

                        20 year old handsome boy

Appa’s cricketing support is something that Ravichandran cherishes to this day “Appa would watch me from his car. If I did not start well with the bat, he would move the car a bit. He also brought visiting Englishmen from Kodak to the ground to watch me bat and captain. And that added extra pressure on me at that young age but I enjoyed the experience of performing in front of them.”

“His support towards my cricket was unconditional. He bought me the best cricket gear including Gray Nicolls bat, one that Ram Ramesh took from me for the state match.”

His class mate at school N Kumar, now VC at Sanmar Group ( N Kumar Mayura) played with Ravi for TSC in the TNCA league. He recalls Ravi from his schooling years “He was a stylish batsman.  His leadership qualities came to the fore even as a teenager. Outside of his cricketing achievements, he was and continues to be a very good human being. While we were very close during our schooling days, in recent decades he became one of Sankar's best friends and the two spent a lot of time watching matches and movies together.”

A class topper all through

Ravichandran made steady progress in cricket playing and captaining city and state schools. He won the school boy cricketer award in 64-65. He captained TSC to league championship victories taking the team from the V division to the first.  For a youngster who spent a lot of time on the cricket field and with cine personalities throughout his teenage phase, he was a topper all through his schooling years and he walked into AC Tech after PUC at Loyola. 

At AC Tech, he captained a rather unfancied cricket team to many victories. Spin twins Bhargav Mehta and N Bharathan often bundled out the opposition while Ravichandran anchored the batting.  

V Ravikumar retired as the Executive Director of AV Thomas and now lives a quiet life in the beautiful city of Mysore. He was three years Ravichandran's junior at AC Tech and has some wonderful recollections from those glorious years at college “It was a tradition for only the final year students to captain the college team but Ravi was a natural leader and he broke that tradition!!”

Ravikumar was playing 5th division cricket for Royapettah CC when he joined AC Tech. He was warned by his classmates to not go anywhere near the cricket team as they perceived it as being full of politics but Ravikumar’s passion got the better of him and he tried to give it a shot and went to the selection trials much against the advice of his friends. He recounts the meritorious approach of Ravichandran and his ability to test the real abilities of a cricketer ‘When I told him I was an opening batsman, he got me padded up against the extraordinary spin twins N Barathan and Bharghav Mehta. He also had fast bowler Varun Kaiwar bowl at me at the nets.”

Like any cricket mad teenager, Ravikumar went eagerly to the notice board the next morning hoping against hope for his name to  feature in the squad for that season. Much to his delight, his was the 14th and final name in the list. He recounts that moment “A hand softly touched my shoulder from behind. As I turned around, it was Ravichandran conveying his congratulations and best wishes to me. He asked me to come to the nets that evening. He always made his teammates feel that they (we) ‘belonged’ and that each player was an integral member of the team. It simply boosted our confidence.”

“Ravi was a charming personality and a natural leader. He personally appreciated every contribution both of his teammates and the opposition. He was always composed and never lost his cool even when in tense situations. A prime example of this was when AC Tech suffered a shock loss to an unfancied MIT. He accepted defeat gracefully and immediately went up to the opposition captain to congratulate him.”

Heroism written all over him

Ravikumar recounts another distinctive quality of Ravichandran.  “He stood up when the chips were down. Heroism was written all over him. In a tournament final, he broke his thumb while batting against Pachaiappas’ Ramanujam (later IOB and US). He went pillion to the Royapettah Hospital and came back to the ground with stitches. By this time, we had collapsed to 30 for 7. He played with one hand with the tail for company and got us to within a few runs of victory till a controversial LBW decision ended our innings. But it was bravado at its best.”

One of his two Biggest Moments 

His biggest achievement in his decade long cricket career was captaining Madras University, a team that included future Ranji players V Krishnaswamy, V Sivaramakrishnan and P Mukund, to its first Rohinton Baria Cup in 40 years.

PR Ramakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/10/pr-ramakrishnan-coimbatore-cricketer.html), who was an integral part of that middle order, says that Ravi stood out as a leader of men “He was an astute captain. If there is a team of those who did not break into the TN Ranji squad, Ravi will certainly be the captain.  He read the game very well, made the correct moves all the time, placed the field right and had the right bowlers on at the right time. Most importantly, he always chose the XI on merit.”

Ramakrishnan also played under Ravi at YMA “He brought the best out of the players and was easy to move with. He would always discuss the strategy with his teammates and gathered their (our) thoughts as well.” 

Ramakrishnan says that Ravi was a ‘charming’ guy, had the gift of the gab and was a true leader.

The Lucky Rs. 10 coin

The ten rupee coin was a rarity those days. 50 years ago. Ramakrishnan had one. He narrates how that coin became close to Ravi’s heart (finger). “I handed him the coin once for the toss. He won both the toss and the match. And then every time he asked for the coin. In the final, when he could not find me just before the toss, he sent teammates to search for me to get the coin from me. He won the toss and the match.”

Ramki is not able to recall now if the coin was permanently handed to Ravi!!!!

Ravichandran himself counts the South Zone final against Bangalore as the best he had played in. “Victor brought us back into the match with six wickets and then Ramki and I won the match chasing in the fourth innings.” 

The Best Captain

Victor Fernandez, who later went on to become a selector at U13-U19 levels and a VP at TNCA, played under Ravichandran for Madras University and Junior State. Five decades after that famous win against Bangalore, Victor  told this writer that Ravi was easily the best captain he had played under “I also played under Venkat but Ravi was easily the best captain during my time. He got the best out of the players. He was quite sharp and made quick judgments.”

When the match was getting out of hand, Ravichandran fielded at mid off and constantly spoke to his bowlers.

“When we had given away the lead against a strong Bangalore in that crucial match, he came up to during the innings break to say that I had it in me to break the back of the Bangalore innings. That pep talk made all the difference and I got my off cutters going that day and went on to pick 6 wickets. Without Ravi, it may have been a different story that day. All of us had great regard for him as a captain and a human being and I thoroughly enjoyed playing under him" recalls Victor of how Ravi was the motivational force behind the strong comeback in the second innings.

An inspiration

Former Bombay and TN Ranji batsman S Srinivasan was growing up as a school boy in that phase and used to watch matches at the leading grounds in Madras. He says that he drew a lot of inspiration from watching Ravichandran bat and captain at Marina and helped him later as a batsman.

Jealous of Ravi!!!!

Y. Gee. Mahendra and Ravichandran were 'last benchers' at Loyola and AC Tech and their friendship has lasted for close to six decades. Y. Gee recalls his first meeting with Ravichandran in the 1960s “There was a great cricketing rivalry between Don Bosco and St Bedes in those days. I was introduced to Ravi by my captain Vijayaraghavan. Even though we were in the opposition, all of us liked him. There was a certain style to him that could not be missed when one was at the ground. The respect for him was so much that even today everyone addresses him as ‘skip’.”

"At AC Tech, I was the cheerleader of the cricket team and was at all the matches he played. I was a big fan of his in the way he played cricket and conducted himself. We had mutual admiration for each other and shared similar tastes (MSV/Kannadasa/Shivaji/ GRV fans). I led the music competitions at AC Tech and he would always be present to cheer me up."

Ravichandran was part of  Mahendra's drama troupe at AC Tech. Y Gee reveals an unknown facet of Rav "He was a specialist in ‘Madras Baashai’. Hence I assigned him that role in the drama that we put out at the college and he turned out to be a big hit. He had a great sense of humour and was a fun loving fellow."

"Much later when we went to the US, we stayed at his house in Rochester and he was the one who first took us to the Niagara falls." 

While Y Gee was a great cricket fan of Ravi, he says he was jealous of one thing about his close friend "All the teenage girls were at him and we always felt ignored!!! I would always pull his leg on that. He was a charming and handsome guy and it was no wonder that he attracted the right attention."

A Good friend to have 

His senior by a few years at St. Bedes and former TN batsman AG Satvinder Singh (Satvindar@75) has high words of praise for Ravichandran's qualities as a human being "He was an affable guy, very friendly, always smiling and has been a good friend to have over the last many decades. He was a fine gentleman and very kind hearted. Whenever we played at Vivekananda college ground, Ravi would bring us loads of ice cool water especially on hot cricketing days that helped quenched our thirst.”

He was a shrewd captain as well. "In a match at Chepauk on a very wet wicket, YMA captained by Ravi shot us (Alwarpet) for less than 20. He handled the team very well and had a positive impact on his teammates."

Hat- Trick man from the early 1970s B Kalyanasundaram (Kalli) is now settled in Pondicherry. He remembers how he had Ravi stumped in a league match against Bunts at the Marina “Ravi came forward and was beaten off three successive balls. Suddenly captain and wicket keeper KR Rajagopal came closer to the stumps and I noticed this as I was on the run up and immediately stopped. Raja shouted at me asking me to bowl and the very next delivery Ravi was stumped. On his way back to the pavilion, Ravi jokingly and sportingly commented that it was Raja’s wicket and not mine. Very truly so.”

A big impact as a captain

Dashing TN opener from the late 1960s KR Rajagopal (KR Raja) has been undergoing serious health issues in recent times at his home in Koromangala, Bangalore having to get Dialysis done four times a week. Despite his ill heath and a fading memory, he remembers the terrific contribution made by Ravichandran to every team that he played “He was the talk of the town when he captained Madras University to that famous first victory in Rohinton Baria. He was a solid batsman who made consistent runs but made a bigger impact as a captain bringing his team members together as a winning unit at every level that he led. He was an inspirational captain."

The Captain’s permission

Former India wicket keeper Bharath Reddy (B Reddy) was in the Junior State team of which Ravichandran was the captain. He recalls the match at the Guindy Engineering College when he sought the permission of his captain to leave mid match “I was in the playing XI but on the second day of the match, they called me for the Rest of India match against Bombay in Bangalore and Ravi let me go. He was a good man at heart and a fine captain and it was sad that he missed out on playing Ranji.

A Big Moment – Venkat’s Gesture at YMA!!!

After watching him captain TSC to successive wins in the league, Bunts Management comprising of senior players offered him the captaincy in the first division. Ravichandran considers it a great honour to have captained Bunts. After his Engineering degree, Sriraman roped him into YMA, a team run by SPIC, where he worked as Project Engineer for a couple of years.

YMA was seen as a team that comprised of ‘Venkat and 10 others’. When Venkat (Venkat @ 75) was away at Derbyshire or on international duty, Ravichandran captained YMA. He recalls a proud moment from that season when YMA won the Palayampatti shield “In the final game of the season, when the opposition captain was waiting for the toss, Venkat came up to me and asked me to go. He told me that I had led the team to the Championship and it was only appropriate that I should continue to captain in the final match of the season as well. It was a great gesture from him and showed the greatness of the man. It was one of my biggest moments in cricket.”

He took inspiration from Venkat’s never say die attitude “When we were once shot out for 60, he took us into the dressing room at Marina and in his typical ‘teeth biting’ style said ‘if they could get us out for 60, we surely can bundle them out for 30. And that’s exactly how it turned out.”

Confidence building High Pressure games

Ravichandran says that the cricketing decade was a great learning phase in his life.  He recalls the huge pressure the boundary fielders were subject to in in those days in matches in Madras “In a Buchi Babu match against Mafatlal at Marina, Ashok Mankad hit Venkat high to long off. There were a couple hundred people just a few yards behind me. They yelled as the ball went high in the air that it will be spoken about till the end of my life if I dropped that catch. Such situations severely tested your ability to remain calm under pressure. Playing under pressure in front of big crowds and coming up trumps built up the confidence levels.” 

The corporate chiefs too came to watch the games and one had to be conscious of the fact that some of them were analysing the personalities of the cricketers “After I got out for 30 chasing a wide one from Ghavri,  Rane’s chief L Narayanan came up to me that evening with a polite enquiry on the shot I played. It had a telling effect on me and reminded me that I was being closely watched." 

A Polished, No-Politics man

Former India fast bowler and architect of MRF Pace Foundation TA Sekar (Sekar TA) was as quick  as it could get in his time. He faced off with Ravichandran in Salem in the Ramadurai Trophy Final and his fine performance with the ball led him to be selected as an understudy to Kalli in the state squad. He says Ravi was a Polished, No-Politics man. "He was a good communicator and that helped him in his captaincy." 

Captain with the Golden Touch

VV Giri played together with Ravi for YMA. He says that Ravi commanded respect from all the players who played under him. "Ravi was a charismatic personality. Whatever he touched turned gold (all the decisions he took as a captain produced results). Of course it must be said that he had a very good team. He was special as a captain and he made it count in crucial matches. He was a gentleman to the core and was very knowledgeable both on cricketing matters and worldly affairs."

The big regret in cricket 

One of the state selectors watched his classy unbeaten 90 against Alwarpet at Viveka and immediately roped him into the Ranji squad but like Ramakrishnan he did not get to play a single match. He was also in the Madras squad that went to ceylon for the Gopalan Trophy match but there too he did not manage to get into the XI “I was sitting out for the first time in my life. It was a frustrating experience to don the role of a 12th man for an entire season. I would have liked to have graduated from University and Junior state to Ranji cricket.”

But he is quick to point out that it was his own undoing “I was very interested in cricket and passionate about the game but my biggest regret is that I did not practice hard enough to build on my batting talent and push my case at the next level with big scores. The cine attraction was too much of a temptation and I watched a lot of movies at those exclusive screenings."

It was also the time he fell in love with a ‘beautiful’ Stella Maris girl and this too took some of his time away from practice.

He had enjoyed a fantastic friendly relationship with his appa during the first two decades of his life and he announced with great ease his love for Shashi “He was a great friend. When I wanted to convey my love, I just went up to him at his office and expressed my intent. Immediately, he picked up the phone and communicated to her appa and fixed up the wedding. The communication with him was always as one of a close friend.”

                    Shivaji Ganesan at Ravi's Wedding

Ravichandran married Shashi in 1975 at a wedding that was attended by the entire cine and cricketing fraternity. Shivaji Ganesan who was a regular to the CIT colony home of Ravi's appa delighted Ravi by being at the wedding. Ravichandran was a great fan of Shivaji's acting and never missed his movies. 

Appa’s message for life

He says that his appa was a self-made man having lost both his parents before he was out of his teens (his appa had lost his appa when he was just one and his amma when he was a teenager). After sitting on the sidelines with the Ranji team, he decided to hang his boots and was never to touch the cricket bat again. 

He quit the job at SPIC, prepared hard for GMAT and came out with a high percentile. He got admitted into the Illonois University (the same one that N Sankar and N Srinivasan went to) with scholarship.

He recalls the sendoff moment when his appa shared a message that has remained with him over the last five decades “With tears in his eyes, he gave me a message that has stayed with me ever since. ‘You need to have good friends in life. Do not ever forget those that helped you in your hour of need. Treat people with dignity’."

Corporate Success 

In the late 1970s, he joined UNISYS and went on to manage four states in the US. Into the 1980s, when he had three job offers on hand, his amma wanted him to join Kodak “namakku sappadu potta company” she told me, recalls Ravichandran. After serving for over 7 years, when he had to return to India due to his mother in law’s ill health, Kodak gave him a one year lien but Ravichandran was never to return to the US for employment.

On his return to India, he helped his father in law grow the conveyor belt business expanding it globally. At the turn of the century, he was involved for four years with a software start up before he set up his own ePublishing firm that he has been running for well over 15years now.  His wife worked at Raj Vattukkutty and VV Sundaram’s CBSI for a few years at MEPZ Tambaram and later at Stanchart before she too turned entrepreneurial.

NO to Cricket

In the 1990s, U Prabhakar Rao asked him to get back into cricket and offered the role of a junior state selector “He told me that I had had a successful experience at the university and junior state level and that I would be able to assess players well.” 

But Ravichandran stayed away from cricket and was never to have an official engagement with cricket again.

Since his return, he had become very close to N Sankar (nsankar@75), who passed away earlier this year. “I was almost part of his household. He was like my Man Mentor. We also travelled a lot together including to watch Wimbledon and cricket internationals in England.”

A Rich Captaincy Experience

Its now just over 50 years since that famous win the Rohinton Baria tournament. Ravichandran looks back at his decade long captaincy stint and points to some of the factors that contributed to his success “I was perceptive as a captain. I closely watched the stance and back lift of every batsman. I was never intimated by the opposition. When an in-form Brijesh Patel came into bat, I posted a short leg and leg slip and gave Barathan the confidence that he could get Patel out cheaply. And he did.”

Ravichandran did not make big hundreds like some of his team mates. He feels he would have batted more freely if he not been a captain ‘The Captaincy was a great opportunity to lead a bunch of great cricketers but personally it meant that I had to shoulder a lot of responsibility. One could not be flippant as a captain. I had to live up to the responsible position and that led me to play well within myself.”

He says he was rationale as a captain. Empathy was one of his most distinguishing qualities best illustrated after Rammohan hit that boundary in the Semi Final against Calcutta to secure a tense one wicket win. “The opposition captain was completely distraught and in tears. I went up to him, put my hands around his shoulder and consoled him. I knew that on another cricketing day, I could have easily been in the position.” 

Captaincy helped greatly in building his man management and communication skills. As he moved into the corporate world in the US, the cricketing experience led him to easily address large gatherings. 

His greatest joy in recent times has been the exceptional success of his two children – his daughter is the MD of the $7trillion Blackrock and his son runs his own Fund. Both are alumni of PSBB KK Nagar.

A Religious Life over the last decade

His father in law was the first secretary of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide. While Swami Dayananda, Sringeri Acharya and Maha Periyava were regulars at his house during his youth and there have been hundreds of homams performed, he has personally turned extremely religious over the last decade or so. He reads the Gita and other ancient scriptures every day and  says that the spiritual endeavor is the real battery charger and 'I feel ‘souped up’ after every such exercise'.

Though he did not get to play in the Ranji Trophy, Ravichandran has fond memories of the cricketing phase in his life "It was a glorious phase in my life. There was no TV in those days and fans thronged in large numbers to watch even a school final. The grounds were packed and while that meant there was pressure on the players, it also served as a great motivation to perform for every good knock or a spell was acknowledged by the fans and we felt like celebrities. Those were lovely old days and very enjoyable ones.  My appa had wanted me to have good friends. Cricket has helped forge life long friendship with so many of my teammates. It has been the greatest blessing to be able to chat up and reminisce with those mates 50years after the Rohinton Baria victory."