Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Kris Srikkanth

Personal information
Full name	Krishnamachari Srikkanth
Born	21 December 1959 (1959-12-21) (age 49) Madras, India
Nickname	Cheeka
Batting style	Right hand bat
Bowling style	Right arm medium, Off spin
Relations	Anirudha Srikkanth (son)
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 43)	November 27 1981 v England
Last Test	February 1 1992 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 146)	November 25 1981 v England
Last ODI	March 15 1992 v South Africa
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODIs
Matches	43	146
Runs scored	2062	4091
Batting average	29.88	29.01
100s/50s	2/12	4/27
Top score	123	123
Balls bowled	36	36
Wickets	0	25
Bowling average	$ndash;	25.64
5 wickets in innings	$ndash;	2
10 wickets in match	$ndash;	$ndash;
Best bowling	$ndash;	5/27
Catches/stumpings	40/0	42/0
Source: [1], October 7 2009

Krishnamachari "Kris" Srikkanth pronunciation (help·info) (born December 21, 1959 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and the current chairman of the selection committee.

He made his One Day International debut against England in Ahmedabad in 1981, followed two days later by his Test debut against England at Mumbai. He made his debut at the age of 21 as an opener of the Indian team to partner Sunil Gavaskar. Both batsmen had entirely different approaches to their batting. Gavaskar was more of the orthodox technical batsman and Srikkanth was prolific hitter and a swashbuckling batsman. Srikkanth redefined batting with his power hitting and he gave so wonderful starts to the team against even the toughest of oppositions. He was gifted with good eye and super quick reflexes. Consistency was not his forte. With more technical batsman in the side during his times like Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Shastri etc, he could fancy hitting the bowlers all over.

Srikkanth was a stylish opening batsman with a keen eye and sharp reflexes, allowing him to play aggressive attacking strokes with power and precision. Although somewhat rash in execution, which led to his downfall at times, his swashbuckling style and free scoring like were a favourite with Indian crowds, making him a popular player.

As he matured, he tempered his aggression somewhat and became a mainstay of the Indian cricket team. He was an integral member of the Indian squad when they won the 1983 Prudential World Cup and 1985 Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket. He was made the captain of the Indian team in 1989. He never hesitated to experiment like he did against England where India had a target of 260 to chase and had lost two early wickets and Srikkanth sent all-rounder Chetan Sharma to bat at number 4 and Sharma returned with a score of 103 and India won the game. He remained the captain of the team for India's tour of Pakistan in 1989 and managed to draw all the four Tests of the series, which was seen by many as an honourable result. But the selectors disappointed with his batting failures, controversially dropped him. He returned two years later and played for another year before being dropped again. By this time, he had entered the 30s and his reflexes were slowing down. He retired from international cricket in 1993 after not being picked for the South Zone team. He was the first Indian player to score a half-century and pick up 5 wickets in an ODI. He achieved this feat against New Zealand at Vishakapatnam in 1988.

After retirement he took up the mantle of coaching the India 'A' team and was a quite successful stint. He has since been a broadcaster and commentator with various sports and news channels.

On September 27, 2008, he was appointed the Chief Selector of the Indian Cricket team. ^[1]

Kris Srikkanth's career performance graph.

Srikkanth played 43 Tests for India, scoring 2,062 runs at an acceptable average of 29.88. His style was better suited to one-day internationals, where he compiled a significantly better record of 146 matches for 4,091 runs at a good average of 29.01. He also bowled off spin regularly in ODIs, taking 25 wickets at a very good average of 25.64. He also lost his flamboyance after he became captain of the Indian team.

Srikkanth's son Anirudh is currently a starter in the Tamil Nadu cricket team. On February 18 2008, Kris Srikkanth was named the ambassador for the Chennai Super Kings franchise of Indian Premier League. ^[2]

References

1. ^ "Mental strength as important as talent - Srikkanth | India Cricket News | Cricinfo.com". Content-eap.cricinfo.com. http://content-eap.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/371522.html. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 
2. ^ "Sport / Cricket : It is Chennai Super Kings". The Hindu. 2008-02-19. http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/19/stories/2008021956851800.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 

External links

• Official Website : Krishnamachari Srikkanth
• Fantasy Cricket : Krishnamachari Srikkanth
• Cricinfo Player Profile : Krishnamachari Srikkanth

v • d • e India squad – 1983 Cricket World Cup Champions (1st Title) 1 Kapil Dev (c) • 2 Gavaskar • 3 Srikkanth • 4 Vengsarkar • 5 Patil • 6 Amarnath • 7 Yashpal • 8 Binny • 9 Madan Lal • 10 Kirmani (wk) • 11 Azad • 12 Sandhu • 13 Shastri • 14 Valson

v • d • e India squad – 1987 Cricket World Cup Semi-finalists 1 Kapil Dev (c) • 2 Gavaskar • 3 Srikkanth • 4 Vengsarkar • 5 Azharuddin • 6 Shastri • 7 Sidhu • 8 Binny • 9 Prabhakar • 10 More (wk) • 11 Maninder Singh • 12 Sivaramakrishnan • 13 Sharma • 14 Pandit

v • d • e India squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup 1 Azharuddin (c) • 2 Kapil Dev • 3 Srikkanth • 4 Shastri • 5 Manjrekar • 6 Tendulkar • 7 Jadeja • 8 Kambli • 9 Amre • 10 Prabhakar • 11 Srinath • 12 More (wk) • 13 Raju • 14 Banerjee