The First TN cricketer to play a 100 Ranji matches was one of the most consistent batsmen for the state but his strong match winning performances in the Ranji, Duleep and Deodhar Trophy was not enough to break into the National team in the 1990s
It was the summer of 1988 and YMCA TSR CC hosted a 30overs match against a team from St Bedes/Santhome at the YMCA Pavilion ground (Nandanam). The talk that morning was all about two players from the opposition. One had just returned from his stint at U19 World Cup for India (though he had had a disastrous tourney) and the other was a young lean 15 year old rookie just getting into class XI who stole singles right through that innings with nudges and placements. He was not elegant in stroke play and did not seem naturally talented but it was difficult to get him out that day and he remained so throughout his cricket career, often fighting it out till the very end for his team’s cause. A major road accident 5 years later set his cricketing progress back by a year but came back strong from that career threatening injury and went on to play well over a 100 first class matches. Throughout his career, he contributed to victories be it at the club level or the state or zone but the national call remained elusive all his cricketing life. Here is the story of the man who is popularly referred to as the 'ATG' in TN cricket.
S Sharath’s first knock at cricket was by accident. It was an inter class match at Montford School and Class V-B was short of a full XI. And the young boy was asked if he could join (to just fill the XI). He scored a half century against the strong A side and was immediately called for school practice. Ganesh, who repairs bats opposite St. Bedes ground secured for him an entry into the TNCA league when he was in class VI. In those early days, he would join the fielding practice of TS Mohan at St. Bedes, a group that included G Shyamsundar, CK Suresh and RI Palani.
By the time he was in class XI, he had graduated to play in the 2nd division (Sridhar CC) where he scored 450 runs and those runs were enough to get him a place in the RBI team.
The Formative Years at Chemplast
Bharath Reddy remembers picking up Sharath early from RBI when he was still a teenager "We roped him in early and he contributed significantly for us for almost a decade. He was a very dependable batsman. While he was not naturally talented like many other cricketers of the time, he made up for it with hard work, grit and determination. He always placed a high prize on his wicket."
Sharath had earlier told this writer that the period at Jolly Rovers was the best he had experienced in terms of professionalism. He recalls the contribution of Bharath Reddy from his early years at Jolly Rovers “Bharath was a no nonsense man, who pulled up those who did not measure up. He made me realise how professional cricket is to be played. It was a great learning experience for me early on to be guided by Bharath.”
After a fine first season with Jolly Rovers when won the first division trophy he had found a place in the Buchi Babu team. Sharath credits Abdul Jabbar the legendary Southpaw from the 1970s and 80s as the reason for his growth in his emerging years at Jolly Rovers "Jabbar was the one who threw deep insights into batting that had a long standing impact on me especially on how to craft an innings and work your runs. The technical inputs that he shared with me in those early days at Chemplast was unmatched."
In those formative years, he also credits B Arun for a profound impact on him as a cricketer 'Arun handled the youngsters so well. He knew the way to handle the different 'characters' - the stars as well as the newcomers in the team and created that comfort factor for us. His man management skills were among the best and the dressing room atmosphere was lovely whenever he was there."
Century in U19 Test
The first signs of his long innings ability at the national level came in the U19 test where playing for India under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid, he scored 135 and 74 against Stephen Fleming’s New Zealand in Bangalore in the first test in 1992. He followed this with a half century in the 2nd test. He had already notched up a double century in the domestic U19 inter state matches and led TN to the (joint) national championship with a 75 in the final. Clearly at that time, he was matching Dravid run for run.
Former India cricketer Sujith Somasundar, who played with Sharath for Chemplast as well as for South Zone in the late 1990s remembers Sharath from his teenage days “I watched him bat for the first time as a 17 year old in Tirupathi and was instantly impressed with his footwork. He stood out as a teenager. It was rare for someone to jump out to spinners at that age but he used his feet beautifully.”
The accident – a set back to his career
Shortly after his success in the U19 tests, he made his Ranji debut and had a solid first year for TN. And then all of a sudden on the evening of Dec 7, 1993, his cricketing life was pushed back by another accident – a tragic one on the road. The first match of the 1993-94 Ranji season at Chepauk was washed off due to rain. As was the practice in those days, the one dayer immediately followed the Ranji match. TN was bundled out by Azhar’s Hyderabad for just 69 in the 50overs match with Sharath scoring a duck. Disappointed with his performance and the failure in the first innings of the new season, he headed to PK Dharmalingam’s nets at Sishya soon after the early completion of the match.
A failed Surgery
If the accident was bad, the initial surgery was worse. It did not go well. After a fortnight, he continued to experience excruciating pain on his left leg that led him to believe that something was not right. He reached out to his doctor aunt in Bangalore and his suspicion came true as she confirmed to him that the initial surgery had not gone well On January 1, 1994 (the week when a few kms from the hospital, he was hearing news of Karnataka scripting a great comeback Ranji win against TN thanks to the then upcoming Rahul Dravid) he underwent another surgery in Bangalore. He had been bed ridden through most of December, and January proved to be another painful month.
An Unlikely helping hand
In Bangalore, he received support from an unexpected quarter. Sujit Somasundar, who had played U17 cricket with Sharath and who too had made his Ranji debut for Karnataka, came to know of his presence in the city and helped him with physiotherapy at a time when Sharath was not able to place his feet on the ground. Sharath says it was a most unexpected and timely support by a cricketer from another state at an important moment in his life. In those days, the relationship between TN and Karnataka cricketers was not particularly rosy but Sujith went out of his way to reach out to Sharath and help him that first quarter of 1994.
A Friendly Character
Also, Sujith, who is currently the Head of Education, NCA, saw Sharath as being very different from many of the other players from TN of that era “While he was very competitive on the field, he was very friendly off the field and moved well with us (Karnataka players). He was the kind of guy who would come on his own and talk to you. In fact, that is what helped him in the recuperation of the injury as well. Some times as one from another state you do not know if the other player would be receptive to your solution. But Sharath was with the physiotherapy that I suggested. While I may have helped him a bit with a solution, credit goes to him for being open to receiving support from someone like me. And that does not always happen.”
By May that year, Sharath was back on his feet contributing to a victory in a summer tourney in Kodaikanal. A month or so later, he came back with a bang in league cricket scoring a century at the start of the new season. After having missed the entire Ranji Season in 1993-94, he returned to the Ranji team and was never dropped in his career for runs flowed from his bat the following decade as he went on to become the first cricketer from Tamil Nadu to play 100 Ranji matches topping 8000 runs that remained a record for over a decade before Abhinav passed that recently.
Sujith says that while the injury did hamper him in the initial phase, he adapted himself like no other cricketer of the generation “Getting operated multiple times on an ankle is likely to have a very serious impact on the leg. Sheer determination and passion for the game helped him overcome such a major injury. He was fleet footed especially to the spinners when he was 17. Much later in the 1990s after the injury, I did not see him stepping out often. He adapted himself and created other favourite strokes.He was one of the most intelligent batsmen I have seen. He had this uncanny ability to play on the bowler’s psyche. To come out of such an injury and play well over 100 matches is creditable. I did not see any other player of my generation with such a major injury who came back as strongly as Sharath did in the 1990s.”
One of his favourite matches
95-96 was a big year for him when he scored close to 800 runs including a double century. It was one of the matches that season that he counts among his most favourite. In the quarter final against Bombay in Tirunelveli in February 1996, Sharath top scored in both the innings on an underprepared wicket with knocks of 86 and 90 in a match when both the teams did not top 250 “If I had got another 24 runs ( 14+10), my career may have taken a different turn/ A century in both innings in a winning effort against Bombay may have caught national attention. Even though I played two match winning knocks, it did not get the attention it deserved”points out Sharath, quite disappointed at not having scored those extra runs to the century in both the innings.
He followed this with another match winning 4th innings partnership with WV Raman in the Semi Final against Delhi at Chepauk after TN had lost both openers early in what seemed to be a difficult chase. In two successive knock out matches against strong oppositions, he had recorded match winning knocks. The final that year turned out to be an anti climax after Karnataka scored over 600 runs in its first innings.
Closest to National Selection - India A and against Touring teams
He began the next season in terrific form with centuries in his first match in all the three domestic tournaments – Ranji, Duleep and Deodhar including securing a big comeback win for South Zone with a double century stand with TN teammate S Ramesh as the team chased close to 400 in the 4th innings.
These knocks earned him his first major national call at the senior level with him being included in the Board Presidents XI against the touring South Africans and then a couple of months later in February 1997 for the India A team for the SAARC tournament. His unbeaten half century helped India A crush Bangladesh to take the team to the final, where too he was taking India A to victory with a run chase against Pakistan when rain forced a wash out. But despite these two brilliant knocks, he went out of favour when India A toured Pakistan, with Rohan Gavaskar replacing him"That was one of my biggest shocks and disappointments. I was so confident of selection that I had even checked with WV Raman about the various grounds in Pakistan. I had also purchased formals ahead of the tour but I was not picked. It was one of the most shocking moments of my career."
He was in the 25member probables for the 1997 Asia Cup but was not in the final squad. Later that year, he played another tour match this time against the visiting Lankans but failed to score.
Failure to score against visiting International teams
Former middle order batsman from the 1980s, PC Prakash, who was the Head Coach of the TN U23 team last year and from whom Sharath learnt a lot, while endorsing the tag of ‘ATG’ points out to the missed opportunities “He was no doubt one of the most consistent performers in that period and got runs in tough situations. But in those decades, the performance against touring teams was often the clincher. Sharath did not perform in the two matches against SA and SL. May be unfortunate but it was those one or two matches that really counted in those times."
A couple of years later, he was in top form again across formats and tournaments. Once again he topped 800runs in the Ranji season and scored centuries in the Duleep and Deodhar Trophy as well. But he never came close to national selection again. A year later, in 2000, he resigned himself to the fact that he was unlikely to be considered again at the National level (even the A tours). But he continued on from those disappointments and played for a major part of the next decade for Tamil Nadu in the process becoming the first cricketer from the state to play 100 Ranji matches.
In first division league cricket, he played a significant role in IOB bagging the Palayampatti Shield in the only year he played for them after he moved from Jolly Rovers. Much later, when he was well into his late 30s, he continued to score centuries at will in the first division playing for the 2nd team of India Cements with the 170 against his former club Jolly Rovers comprising of R Ashwin, L Balaji and Piyush Chawla being a particularly cherished knock.
Biggest Day of his Life - 100 Ranji Matches
He scored four centuries in Duleep Trophy, 2 each against North and West including match winning knocks. For long, he was not considered a one day player but his match winning record in Deodhar Trophy speaks for itself. In a period of three years in the late 90s, he had six knocks of over 75, three of which he converted to centuries. He is particularly proud that he averages 45 in one day cricket for TN even though the general perception in that phase had been that he was an average one day player. He scored a century in his 100th Ranji match at Rajkot and counts being honoured by the TNCA and his boss at India Cements, N Srinivasan, for his century of Ranji matches as the biggest day of his life.
Throughout his 15year cricketing career, he placed a high value on his wicket. A majority of his big knocks were played under pressure when the team had lost early wickets. With his consistency, he created a 'presence' for himself in the team with the opponents always wanting to get his wicket. A match was never safe for the opposition till the time Sharath was there in the middle.
Two decades after his roller coaster performances in the late 1990s, there is disappointment writ large on his face when he is reminded of not playing for the country. He points to the fact that he was not a ‘stats’ players and the unfair treatment meted out to him when he was in peak form. “Out of the 23 centuries in Ranji Trophy, over 75% were match winning knocks. I was not one to score runs in dead matches. Those at the helm at that time just did not back me and my prowess with the bat.”
This story will leave the final word with former India Cricketer WV Raman, who Sharath looked up to as an icon when he grew up as a cricketer.
“He was always consistent and recorded a lot of big knocks on tough tracks. He played very long. In a way it was sort of unfortunate he could not break into the national side, even though he had done enough to get in. Sometimes it is very tough on a domestic cricketer to not get the right breaks but then his contribution or ability is no way less. One has to genuinely feel sorry for him. The 'levers in a lock' did not click together at the same time. But despite the disappointments and frustrations, the fact that he continued to play and perform creditably till the 2000s is testimony to his application, determination and perseverance. And that is admirable. In the annals of TN cricket, Sharath will definitely go down as an ATG (All Time Great).
After his retirement, he donned the role of Chairman of Selectors for five years and has been a match referee over the last many years. His next big goal is to become a National Selector. With the credibility he has had as a player, that day may not be far off. And may be, he will bring to the new age cricketers justice that he for long did not seem to get during his playing days!!!