M Santosh Kumar IOB TN ICA

On the back of a strong performance for the Junior State and in the Buchi Babu tournament, a young 21 year old off spinner was included in the South Zone squad to play the visiting Australians, bereft of the packer players, in 1979.  M Santosh Kumar had not yet played Ranji cricket for TN though he had made his debut for the Railways, as a previous staffer at ICF. With PR Man Singh as the manager, Hyderabadi Shivalal Yadav got the nod in the XI in that crucial match and shortly after played Test Cricket for India. While he could have easily played Duleep and Deodhar Trophy for the Central Zone, much like S Madhavan (he joined RBI in 1982), Santosh too had quit the Railways opportunity to join a nationalized bank (IOB) in Madras. Legendary off spinner S Venkataraghavan still cherished dreams of an India return and continued to play for TN into the early 1980s denting Santosh’s hopes. He was IOB’s standout bowler for 15years helping them win many trophies especially in the shorter format and remains the bank’s highest wicket taker. In his second innings in cricket, he is now making a strong comeback. Having been the TN representative at the ICA over the last three years, Santosh is now eyeing an even bigger role in cricket and is confident of a bagging a coveted position in the TNCA come the elections in a couple of months. He says he will stand up for the players and the support staff that had been hitherto elusive. Here’s the story

M Santosh Kumar spent his entire childhood at the Chidambaram Stadium with his appa Muthu, the legendary TNCA marker and the man who ran the BS Nets. Every morning he would be woken up at 5am to run around the stadium. As a Hindu School cricketer, he was prolific both as a batsman and off spinner and played for the city and state schools. Even as a young teenager he was seen as a promising cricketing and expected to climb the cricketing ladder. 

In that early phase at school, his appa was a true inspiration. Every time he picked five wickets, he would pay Rs. 100.“But when I began to pick these in bag loads, he made it more challenging for me. He lifted the bar to include 25runs as well”,  says Santosh, sitting at the Secretary’s office at MUC, a post he has held for many years, now.

His all round performances were so consistent at the school level that his appa almost had to give up this motivational exercise. (At the State level around the same time, Venkat Challenged Kalli to score a 25 in a Ranji match!!!). "He used to hide behind the tree and watch me bowl in matches. At the end of the day, he would discuss extensively including on field placements”

Santosh improved his bowling skills under Audi Chetty’s coaching but he also remembers that great coach for initiating him into the mental aspects “Every time I felt low, he would come to me and inspire me with his motivational talk. It was he who asked me not to lose heart and asked me to keep working hard.”

                                      

1973 was a big year for the then 15 year old Santosh as he shot into prominence in the schools tournaments with extraordinary performances for the City and State Schools. Against Karnataka, it was his two wickets in an over including that of Roger Binny that triggered a collapse and handed TN a comeback win to take them into the Ghulam Ahmed Trophy final.

Former Andhra Ranji Cricketer and a St Bedes student in the early 1970s, GA Pratap Kumar played against Santosh in the inter schools tourney and alongside him  for City and State Schools.  Much later, the two locked heads in a fierce rivalry with SBI's GAP taking on IOB's Santosh in the 1980s. He recalls the strong competition among four spinners in early 1970s "AP Rajasekar, Gautham, Santosh and I competed for spots in the schools team. Santosh was very hard working. He was a born street fighter and would not give up easily. He picked up a lot of wickets at the schools level and scored big runs. It was unfortunate that he did not go on to play much for TN."

He continued his hugely successful run into the Pachaiappas College where he played under Bharath Reddy and bowled alongside S Vasudevan. Strong performances for the college earned him a place in the University side. Reddy was the real motivating source in those early days “He was the best captain I played under. He was an inspiration from behind the stumps and would lift your spirits even you were completely down”. 

In the TNCA league, he started off with UFCC T. Nagar and then moved on to TVS MSC in the 2nd division. During his college days, he scored a century before lunch for TVS MSC showcasing his batting prowess. The secretary of the club, Devraj (SBI), back him to the hilt and supported him financially paying his college fees. 

In Junior State cricket, his 6 for 43 helped bundle out a strong Hyderabad batting line that included to be state cricketers Shahid Akbar and Khalid Abdul Quayyum.

Into his late teens, he joined ICF as a clerk based on his performance for the University. In his very first year at ICF, he made his Ranji debut for the Railways and was hopeful of playing for Central Zone to further his cricketing interests. 

In the summer of 1979, his appa directed him to take up a bank job. ICF was not necessarily seen as a plump post in those days especially when compared to one at a leading bank.

Ranji cricketer from the 1970s V Krishnaswamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html) was building a strong team at IOB.Santosh recalls that big decision in his life “My appa was very committed to TN. Chepauk, TNCA and TN meant everything to him. He wanted me to play Ranji for TN even though I had settled down at Railways and a good future beckoned. I followed his direction and quit ICF in 1979.”

He grew up watching legendary spinners Venkat and VV Kumar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/07/cricket-tales-exclusive-with-vv-kumar.html) bowl tirelessly at the BS Nets. His most memorable experience as a bowler at the BS Nets was bowling to TE Srinivasan, who consistently challenged the youngster to take his wicket. While they were heroes to him, he himself was a hero at the Hindu Sec School and was treated like one by his Physical Director LC Rangan.

Like any other teenager, he dreamt of playing for the country. His rather surprise inclusion in the South Zone squad against Kim Hughes’ Aussies came on the back of a couple of big performances in the Buchi Babu tournament. He recalls picking up 24wickets in two Buchi Babu matches and 22 wickets in the first four matches in the 1st division league and was in prime form. His early Ranji debut as a teenager too gave him confidence and he was looking forward to playing against the Aussies. The selection had lifted his cricketing spirits, and the hopes of climbing the cricketing ladder shot up.  Off Spinners Prasanna and Venkataraghavan had already played for well over a decade for India and were at the end of their careers and this was to open the doors for a young offie in the Indian team. 

His appa told him that a strong performance against Australia would get him into national prominence but alas his dream was dealt a severe blow on the morning of the match. He recalls that morning “I was all excited to be playing that match and was looking forward to the challenge but as luck would have it Shivlal was chosen in the XI on the morning of the match and soon made his debut for India. Even captain Kirmani was disappointed at me being left out be he could not go against PR Man Singh’s words.”

The move to IOB gave him financial security and a long almost four decades career at the Madras headquartered bank where he ended up as the highest ever wicket taker. But his hopes of moving up in cricket were crushed. While he may have been a regular feature for the Railways in the Ranji Trophy, it was lot more challenging for him in TN with Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html) still cherishing the dream of a India come back after being left out following a disastrous run in the World Cup and the England tour in mid 1979. S Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/vasudevan-tn-ranji-trophy-retirement.html) had established himself as a left arm spinner and with the dramatic emergence of Vidya Mandir school boy leggie L Sivaramakrishnan (LS), Santosh was relegated to the sidelines. He was in and out of the squad playing less than 10 Ranji matches for TN. 

When he did get his chance, he picked four wickets in his Ranji Debut for TN against Kerala in 80-81, the season when he played 5 Ranji matches for TN. Santosh remembers the conversation he had with Venkat in Cannanore at the end of the Ranji match after his wicket taking spell on TN debut “Venkat told me that he still harboured ambitions of playing again for India and that the only way he could do it was to play and perform in the Ranji Trophy. This meant that I was unlikely to be a regular feature for TN and even if I was would not get enough overs to prove my credentials.”

“Till the Junior State level, I took wickets in good numbers in every phase starting city schools. And yet when it came to the Ranji, I was sidelined. I was always under trial and every match was a severe test to hold my place. I should have played lot more matches for TN and don’t think I was given a fair chance by TN” says Santosh looking back at those frustrating years for TN.

That same season, in January 1981, he picked up seven wickets in a Gopalan trophy match in Salem against a strong Lankan side and he believed that he would get several more chances but those opportunities remained elusive and the next season proved to be his last.

His Pachaiappas College and later Ranji team mate S Vasudevan remembers the big partnership the two had in a losing cause in the Ranji semi finals against Bombay in 1981“We played together right from the state schools up to Ranji Trophy. He was a very good off spinner and also batted decently. He took a lot of wickets during school and college days.” 

Interestingly in one of his best innings, he put on close to a century partnership for the last wicket with R Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/r-madhavan-tn-cricketer-1980s.html) for the TNCA Prez XI against a Nirlons attack comprising Sandhu and Shastri in the Buchi Babu tournament this after having taking five wickets against a batting lineup that included Gavaskar and Sandeep Patil (Madhavan scored a century that shot him into prominence at the National level)

Off spinner Chandrasekaran (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/r-chandrasekaran-sbi-globe-trotter.html), who took over 100 wickets in two league seasons in the early 1960s, played only one Ranji match for TN. Since then till the emergence of Santosh, no off spinner had been able to make his way into the TN squad. Leg Spinner S Madhavan (RBI Madhavan) returned from Central Zone duties to join RBI in 1982 and never played for TN, with LS preferred to him through the first half of the 1980s. He is sorry for the lack of opportunities for Santosh in the 1980s "He was a very good off spinner. When the selectors wished, there have been enough cases of two left arm spinners or two off spinners playing in the XI in cricket. It just so happened that they did not fit him into the XI."

Kerala’s Balachander invited Santosh to move to that state so he could play Ranji cricket there but much like Chandrasekaran two decades earlier, Santosh refused. 

Bharath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html), who Santosh rates as the best captain he played under has the final word “The fact that Santosh played Ranji trophy for TN as an off spinner when Venkat was still around was by itself a significant achievement for him.”

IOB had not been a cricketing team to reckon with till the first half of the 1970s. It was V Krishnaswamy who drove a cricketing wave at the Bank. Santosh remembers Kicha even sponsoring food for the entire team in the league matches “Kicha was inspirational and the best that I had seen in cricket. He brought the team together and much after his Ranji retirement would stay till end of a league match motivating us to give our best. It was under him that NP Madhavan, Vasan and I, among many others, blossomed at IOB. It was through his efforts, from the background, that the bank emerged as a strong team in the 80s and 90s. ”

 

Santosh also acknowledges the brilliant close in cordon built by Kicha. "I owed a lot of my wickets in that early phase to IOB’s fielding with Kicha and Venkatachalam and later Junior Ramesh in the close cordon holding sharp chances."

Santosh says that though he was frustrated at not getting enough chances for TN, Krishnaswamy motivated him and kept him going through the first half of the 1980s “He believed in my abilities and motivated me right till the time he was in India (Kicha moved to Korea in the 2nd half of the 80s) and gave me a lot of hope. He firmly believed that I could make a comeback in Ranji.”

                                    

IOB's opener from the 70s and 80s M Sundar watched Santosh very closely. He says that Santosh was one of the finest & shrewd off spinners he had come across during his playing days, particularly on matting wickets  “He was very nippy off the wicket & it was always testing time for the slip fielders. He captained IOB very successfully and we won many trophies under him.” 

His Appa’s experience in preparing pitches rubbed off on MSK. Sundar says that Santosh was a very good reader of wickets, a talent very few cricketers possessed and could correctly predict how the wicket would behave.

Another IOB team mate from the late 70s NP Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html) says that as an offie Santosh was very nippy at his peak. However, he could not be restrained  and would blow up.  

He went on to become a manager at IOB. His two daughters have followed in the father’s footsteps and currently hold good positions at IOB and SBI. Interestingly, his son, who could not make it big as a player, has just picked up the video analyst role with the Indian team for the current series against SA and will also be travelling to England for the one off test. He is also the video analyst with the KSCA.

In his second innings in cricket Santosh Kumar has managed to get a powerful role and for the last three years has been the TN representative on the ICA. 

At the meetings at the TNCA in recent years, he has made his presence felt  raising issues that most others have chosen to remain silent about. The meetings that in the past had lasted under 15 minutes have now gone on for two hours with Santosh seeking closure on issues he has raised.  In a letter to the TNCA written last week, a copy of which is available with this writer, Santosh, has also pitched for an amount for the Ranji winning team of 1988. In that letter, he has also asked for monetary benefits to former Ranji players who had played less than 25matches.

He is now yearning for more, and eyeing a top post at the TNCA this year in the upcoming elections. Unlike in his playing days, he is confident of securing the post – a true transformation as a personality over the last four decades!!.  He has also placed demands for the stands in the newly reconstructed stadium to be named after former legends including umpires. He says that he will soon get a significant hike for umpires, scorers and video analysts at the TNCA. 

Santosh Kumar, with whom this writer has officiated as an umpire in many TNCA matches, was a nippy off spinner in his prime and had risen to the State level on the back of strong performances starting with city and state schools and later at the Pachaiappas College and in Buchi Babu Tournament. However, with Venkataraghavan still playing for the State, Santosh could not break his way through on a consistent basis for TN in the early 1980s and faded away without making much of a mark, though he performed extraordinarily for well over a decade for IOB in the first division league and in limited overs tournaments. 

Now, close to four decades later, the unrestrained anger that NP Madhavan spoke about of Santosh from the late 70s and early 80s is seen in its full form. At the MUC, soon after his arrival at the Secretary's desk, everyone in the office are on their toes. He picks up every pending item and pins them down. With a drainage issue that had gone out of hand at the club with the demand going up to close to a Lakh, his solution is simple. He calls the Chairman of Sewerage Board and questions the process. Within hours, the team land up to close the issue.

On the cricketing front in TN, his process is no different. He is determined to fight for players' cause and is taking it up with the officials. Relentless in his pursuit to achieve what he wants and clear with the way he will get it, he is aggressively going after the top spot in the TNCA and says in his typically challenging way to question him if he does not secure the dues for the players and the officials once he is in the hot seat!!! 

This section will track the developments.