He was the talk of the town in 1988 after playing the U19 World Cup in Australia
In his 2nd innings, Banking Entrepreneur Shyam has garnered business of Rs. 250crores and is looking to take his branch network to 10 in Chennai
Big runs for an unfancied St. John School (Mandaveli) prompted Santhome to rope him into their cricket squad. Within a few years, he made the big leap into the next level in cricket playing for the state and zone at the U15 level. His big century for South Zone against ROI at the U19 level earned him a place in the India team for the inaugural Junior World Cup. Soon he was a star personality in the city. When he came to play a practice match for a Santhome XI against YMCA TSR in the summer of 1988, he was the cynosure of all eyes. He failed to break through to the next level and could not make it into the TN Ranji squad. 30 years after his World Cup debut, he made his debut as an entrepreneur launching a Banking enterprise in Chennai. Within the first few years of the launch, he has garnered business of Rs. 250crores and has big expansion plans. Last year this section featured a story on first division Cricketer turned Entrepreneur Promodh Sharma (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/promodh-sharma-cricketer-turned.html). This one is about another one – Junior India Cricketer- who is now making a big mark in the Banking Sector. Here’s the story.
RG Shyamsundar grew up playing tennis ball cricket near Karaneeswarar temple in Mylapore very near the St Bedes ground where he had the first knock with the cricket ball. His uncles VN Guruswamy (TNCA umpire) and Mukunthraman (Port Trust cricketer) played the early grooming role.
74 year old Guruswamy says that it was Mukund Raman who played a larger role in his cricket development “Mukunth would write the names of Indian and Australian cricketers forming two teams and play a tennis ball test match with him inside the house. That was Shyam’s first initiation into cricket. It was also he who spoke to his namesake at Grand Prix and got Shyam into the league team alongside some of the established stars of the time.”
Guruswamy
Shyam himself recalls practicing alongside WV Raman, LS and Sankupani as a young boy “Grand Prix was a destination of choice for budding cricketers as it was one of the very few clubs that offer net facilities. It was a great experience to have practiced and played alongside some of the greats of the times.”
Guruswamy, who played for Bunts in the first division, recalls a match at the Union ground “Shyam was a young boy and he came along to watch the match. When one of our fielders was injured, he fielded as a substitute and much to everyone’s surprise took an outstanding catch. That day, he gave glimpses of what he could achieve on the cricket field.”
The Cricketing Call - Joins Santhome from St. Johns
His strong performance for an unfancied St Johns (Mandaveli) school in the TNCA tournament led cricket coach CPS Mani to rope him into the school. It was a dream run for Shyam at Santhome. He particularly remembers the 160 he scored against a strong St. Bedes side in the semifinal. He credits the Head Master Camillus for the cricketing transformation at Santhome “He was a thorough professional and gave his unflinching support to the cricket team. Ahead of every final, he would allow us to take off for practice. On the finals day, the students would pack the ground and support us. It served as a great motivation for us.”
Despite his cricketing focus, he was good at academics and always secured high grades at school. This was to stand him in good stead when after his cricketing career, he took to academics again.
Craze for his Idol GRV
Into the U19 level, he had moved up his game one notch. He was in scintillating form in 1987-88, the year that the senior team won the Ranji Trophy. He scored three hundreds including one against Rest of India. He calls it the biggest turning point of his career “At that age, there was no real aim and I just played for the love for the game. GRV was my inspiration. He was my cricketing idol and I was crazy about him. I wanted to bat like him.”
Trademark Square Cuts
Shyam played for RBI in the first division before he joined Jolly Rovers. His craze for GRV had translated into how he played his strokes in those early years. Off spinner and top order batsman NS Ramesh remembers the phase and how he had a penchant for square cuts “He was an excellent player. His square cuts were superb and special. He was particularly strong off the backfoot. As a person, he was a team man to the hilt. We just loved him during his stint with RBI.”
South Zone were going down the barrel at 30 for 5 against ROI at the Wankhade Stadium chasing 400plus “I shared a 270run stand with CK. I ended up with an unbeaten 175. And we won outright.”
It was that big match winning century for South Zone that earned him a place in the Indian U19 team that toured NZ and then later for the Junior WC in Australia. In the only test against New Zealand, the Indian think tank decided to go for the run chase instead of playing out a draw. Shyam recalls that innings “Vasu Paranjpe instilled a lot of self-belief in me and thought that I had it in me go a long way in cricket. He wanted me to go after the chase. I remember taking it close but wickets kept falling at the other end and we fell just short.”
With that unbeaten knock, Shyamsundar showed that day that he could hold his own against a team that comprised future test stars. However, the World cup did not go as per expectations and India did not qualify “Vasu Paranjpe had high expectations of me. He would often ask later as to why TN did not pick me.”
When Shyam walked into the YMCA Pavilion ground along with S Sharath in the summer of 1988 to play a practice match against YMCA TSR, he was the cynosure of all eyes and the buzz in the entire ground was all about ‘that guy is India U19, a big hitter. Watch out for him.”
Lifelong Friendship
Murrays owner and U15 India schools fast bowler Hemant Srivatsa (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/04/hemant-srivatsa-cricketer-of-1980s.html), who quit serious cricket before he turned 20, played together for about four years in the mid-1980s with Shyamsundar from U15 to U19. Shyam has been one of Hemant’s few cricketing friends who have survived the test of time “I had never attended any camps till I was almost 15 and met Shyam for the first time at the U15 camp when we both got selected for the city team. My earliest memories of Shyam is of meeting a short diminutive boy who was extraordinary as a fielder in the cover region.”
Hemant was a big swing bowler in those early days and rarely placed a mid-off for a large part of his career. He looks back at the role Shyam played in those four years “With Shyam at wide cover, your confidence just shot up as a bowler. Nothing went past him, left or right. He would save a lot of runs for you with his brilliant fielding. He was a joy to watch, both as a batsman and a fielder. There was something graceful about everything he did on the field. He was all class and a brilliant cricketer. His persona was so charming that he remains one of the few cricketers I am still talking to.”
Soon after, he became a star at Vivekananda College “I realized how big the World Cup was back in Madras. Suddenly I had a big fan following and became conscious that everyone was watching me. It almost gave me the feeling that I had attained stardom, the way the college students and fellow cricketers looked at me that year.”
Unfortunately he was not immediately picked in the U22 squad. Guruswamy remembers that phase soon after his return from the U19 World Cup “Shockingly he was not picked in the U22 squad with the selector asking him to perform in the first division. An India U19 cricketer should have been an automatic choice in that squad but it did not work that way in TN cricket at that time. He got a raw deal.”
To a star studded club
Similar to his move from St Johns to Santhome earlier in the decade, Shyamsundar had a high profile transfer to Jolly Rovers from RBI “Bharath Reddy presented an irresistible offer to play for Jolly Rovers. It was a star studded team comprising of VBC, B Arun, LS and D. Vasu. To be amongst them was a great feeling. But it also meant you could have got lost amidst all the glamorous names. But Bharath had a special liking for me and never dropped me in that phase.”
In the few years he played for Jolly Rovers, he got a feel of professional cricket in the true sense. Like his successor S Sharath, Shyam has the highest words of praise for Bharath Reddy “I learned a lot under Bharath. It was a completely professional approach there. You had to earn your place in the team. He was a great cricketing brain and the best captain I played under.”
Talented and Hardworking
Bharath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) looks back at Shyam as a very special player from those times “There were only a few players who were both talented and hard working. Shyam was one such guy. I had a special liking for him as he combined his talent with hard work. It was unfortunate he did not get the Ranji call despite consistent scores.”
Shyamsundar did play Junior State cricket and performed creditably “We were chasing 350+ in the Junior State match and there was still 160 to get when the last man joined me. I scored 170 and we just fell short.”
Around 1990, he says he was confident of breaking into the Ranji squad. “After that innings and having scored three hundreds for Chemplast, I was confident of getting the Ranji break but it was highly competitive. Several of us were fighting for 1-2 spots in the middle order.”
The other three U19 teammates from that World Cup squad played for TN with Shyam being the lone one to miss out. It still rankles him “Every time someone talks to me about those days, this topic is brought up but I quickly moved on from those disappointments and enjoyed my cricket at Indian Bank.”
Family's Disappointment at Shyam not getting the Ranji break
Uma, wife of Mukunthraman, recalls those days from the 1970s “We lived on Canal Bank Road (RA Puram). My husband would bowl all the time to Shyam. As a young boy, Shyam was mad about cricket and was always seen with a cricket bat. While we were all delighted at him playing the U19 World Cup in Australia, it was disappointing that he did not get the chance to play in the Ranji Trophy as we thought he was talented enough and had it in him to play for the state at the senior level.
A mentor to many cricketers
For ATG S Sharath (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/12/sharath-s-tn-crickets-atg.html), Shyam was a mentor. The two of played together at Jolly Rovers in the early 1990s “We batted at No. 5 and 6 and put together several big partnerships in that period. I found him to be a gritty and gutsy batsman and an excellent team man. He got big 100s on all matting wickets, a phenomenal achievement in those days. He held his own in that star studded line up.”
“As a human being, he was a straight forward man and a happy go lucky guy with a terrific attitude towards the game and life. He helped youngsters right from their school days to club cricket, mentoring many of them.”
One of his biggest moments -Meeting with Idol GRV
It was during his stint at Chemplast that he enjoyed one of the biggest moments in cricket “Chemplast was playing a tourney in Bombay. When Bharath Reddy called me to his hotel room, I thought it would be something to do with the match. He surprised me by introducing me to GRV. Bharath knew my craze for the legend and it was one of my big cricketing moments to chat with the legendary batsman.”
From Cricket to Banking
Sports Chief at Indian Bank DV Sundar who played a big role in the careers of several sportspeople and RI Palani, Captain of Indian Bank and now the Secretary of the TNCA, offered him an officer’s post at Indian Bank“My parents were delighted with the offer and asked me to take it. I enjoyed the responsibilities at the bank, both in cricket and at work.”
Sundar saw him from close quarters for over a decade and is critical of the way the TN selectors treated him “Almost every other India U19 cricketer from that year played Ranji cricket. He would have blossomed had he been immediately roped into the Ranji squad. It proved to be a big dampener. He was highly talented but was not recognized by the state. But despite that, he remained humble, pragmatic and committed to the team’s cause. He was very consistent and a big contributor for Indian Bank. But unfortunately, decades later, what lingers on in my mind was the shabby treatment meted out to him by the TN selectors.”
With hopes of a Ranji call dashed, he began equipping himself professionally. He picked a MBA in Banking and Finance, completed CAIIB and did a PG Dip in Treasury and ForEx as well as a Dip in Anti Money laundering. While he continued to play cricket, he began to focus on professional work at the bank.
Exceptional Cricketer, Down to Earth person
Palani has known Shyam very closely for the last four decades right from the time he was in school “He was an amazing talent and was shaping up like Gavaskar in his late teens. Despite his big contribution in Junior cricket as well as in the first division, he missed playing Ranji Trophy. It was unfortunate he was overlooked by the state but that’s how it goes in cricket.”
Palani says that Shyam provided great stability and solidity to the middle order "In the mid-90s, we had a solid bowling attacking and were a good fielding side but we were of solidity in the middle order. I convinced him to join the bank. In fact, he was the first India U19cricketer to be given an officer’s post at the bank. He contributed exceptionally for the bank and played a crucial role in many of our wins. Despite his unforgettable performances for the bank, he remained grounded and has always been a down to earth human being, ever willing to help others and a jovial character. Till the end of his stint with the bank, he was a dedicated cricketer offering his best to the bank.”
Into his late 30s, he quit Indian Bank and joined Axis Bank as VP where for over a decade he played the roles of Operations head and was deep into retail branch banking.
Entrepreneurial Venture
And then in March 2018, he did something that he had never visualized in his life. He took the call to become a banking entrepreneur. He became a banking correspondent of Suryoday Small Finance Bank in an exclusive partnership “It was a first of its kind arrangement. I had a banking license and could operate on my own managing the loans and advances. Providing employment to 20 people has been a particularly satisfying experience. To work hard every day to make this a successful venture and keep the employees happy has been a driving force in the last few years.”
Despite two years of the Pandemic, he has managed to garner business of Rs. 250crores and is looking to expand this further “We have three branches currently and our plan is to take this up to at least 10 branches in Chennai.”
He is active in his day to day role at the bank. His cricketing network as well as his almost three decades banking contacts have come in handy in his entrepreneurial venture in securing deposits as well as lending to customers.
A Great Role Model
Fast bowler from the 1990s DJ Gokulakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/03/gokulakrishnan-j.html) who played Ranji cricket for TN and Goa is now a Match Referee and will be making his ‘official’ debut in Ranji cricket later this month. He played against Shyamsundar on many occasions in the 1990s and is saddened that he did not get even opportunity to play Ranji cricket where he could have showcased his skills “To all of us in the late 1980s, he was a big star, having just come back from the World Cup. He was fiercely competitive, a fantastic fielder and a great team man. He should have been given at least one chance in Ranji to prove himself. He handled the pressure well on the field. It is credit to him that he put the disappointments behind and moved on in life and has made it big in the banking field. It is a lesson for others as to how one should face the challenges in life and take things sportingly. His conduct says a lot about his positive mindset.”
While he was a warrior on the field, he was and has always been a great human being, off the field "As teenagers, when Madan and I played as guests in the Moin ud Dowla tourney in Hyderabad, he was on the opposite side. And yet, he took us out for dinner and made us feel at home in Hyderabad. He is a values driven person and I have always had huge respect for him for the way he has treated fellow humans."
Shyamsundar continues to be involved with cricket. He has been managing Puraswalkam CC in the TNCA league for decades and has mentored several players including Hemang Badani (PCC is his appa's club) who played for the country. He is always seen at his favourite St. Bede’s ground during the league season practicing with his team mates and mentoring the next gen. He has also been playing club cricket for Indiranagar in the inter club T20 tournaments in the city. For now, he sees as his next big moments in life taking the Bank to the next level and scaling up its operations in the city. Just as he was in his hey days in cricket, Shyam is delighted to be donning the entrepreneurial hat and working as a team with his mates to take the bank to greater heights. The team spirit in him is undying and that will continue to serve as great motivation for all those who work with him in cricket and elsewhere.
This section wishes him the best in his entrepreneurial endeavour.