Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener especially on the

1983 Cricket World Cup The 1983 Cricket World Cup (officially the Prudential Cup '83) was the 3rd edition of the Cricket World Cup tournament. It was held from 9 to 25 June 1983 in England and Wales and was won by India. Eight countries participated in the event. E ...

winning squad by contributing crucial 38 runs as a top scorer in the finals against West Indies. Srikkanth was the First player in the World to have a Career with International Centuries, 5 Wicket Hauls, and also 5 Catches in an Innings. Known for his aggressive opening style, he has represented the Indian National Cricket team and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

in Indian domestic cricket. He is also a commentator on Star Sports Tamil.

Career

Srikkanth played domestic cricket, for

and South Zone. He made his One Day International debut against England in Ahmedabad in 1981, followed two days later by his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut against England at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

at the age of 21. He opened the innings partnering

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

. Known for his aggressive batting style, he was an early role model for opening batsmen in future years to adopt a similar approach. 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 The Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket was part of the celebrations commemorating the 150th anniversary of European settlement in the Australian state of Victoria. It was a One Day International (ODI) tournament held in Australia f ...

. In the 1983 World Cup final against the West Indies, Srikkanth top-scored in the finals. He was made the captain of the Indian team in 1989. In the same year,

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

made his debut under Srikkanth's captaincy . He remained the captain of the team for India's tour of Pakistan in 1990 and managed to draw all the Tests of the series. But the selectors were disappointed with his batting failures and dropped him. He returned two years later and played for another year before being dropped again. He retired from international cricket in 1993. 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 New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

in 1988. Srikanth Ended his Test Career with 5 Catches in an Innings during his Last Test Match. Srikkanth holds the unusual distinction of scoring the only run ever scored in international cricket at

Ray Mitchell Oval The Great Barrier Reef Arena (also known as the Ray Mitchell Oval and Harrup Park) is an Australian rules football and cricket ground in the city of Mackay, Queensland, Australia. Australian rules football On 19 September 2018, the Gold Co ...

, in Mackay, Australia. The venue hosted its only international match during the 1992 Cricket World Cup, and the match was washed out after two deliveries. In June 2013, Srikkanth participated in the 6th season of '' Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa''. In February 2022, he participated in StarPlus's ''Smart Jodi'' as Contestant with his wife, Vidya.

Style

Srikkanth was an opening

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

noted for his aggressive attacking strokes in contrast to his first batting partner and senior

. He is the pioneer in Pinch-hitting in ODIs at least a decade before Mark Greatbatch started in the 1992 World-Cup & Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya much later. He was known to take risks even in the early part of the innings, often scoring boundaries over the inner ring of fielders. He shares three 100-run ODI partnerships with

Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...

which included the first for India in ODI.

Post retirement

After retirement he had a stint as the coach of the India 'A' team. He has since been a broadcaster and commentator with various sports and news channels. On 18 February 2008, Krish Srikkanth was named the ambassador for the

Chennai Super Kings Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...

franchise of

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

. On 27 September 2008, he was appointed the Chief Selector of the Indian Cricket team. His tenure ended in 2012. On 20 December 2012, Krish Srikkanth was named the ambassador for the

Sunrisers Hyderabad Sunrisers Hyderabad (stylised as SunRisers Hyderabad, SRH) are a franchise cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Kalanithi Maran of the SUN Group and was ...

franchise of

. Also, he is a commentator for the TV Network Star Sports Tamil. Srikkanth is also included to the panel of All India Council of Sports (AICS) as a member in January 2020.

Personal life

Srikkanth is an electrical engineer who graduated from

College of Engineering, Guindy The College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) is a public engineering college in Chennai, India and is Asia's oldest technical institution, founded in 1794. It is also the oldest technical institution to be established outside Europe. History Due ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. Srikkanth is married to Vidya. Srikkanth has two sons, one of whom, Anirudha, plays for

Tamil Nadu cricket team The Tamil Nadu cricket team is a domestic cricket team run by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association representing the state of Tamil Nadu, India.It has been one of the most dominating teams in white ball cricket in domestic circuit The team plays in Ran ...

and has played for both

and

in the

. Their eldest son is Aditya.

Television

In popular culture

* Jiiva played Kris Srikanth in the Hindi, Tamil,Telugu multilingual film. He is an amazing music player '' 83 (2021)''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Srikkanth, Krishnamachari India One Day International cricketers India Test cricketers India Test cricket captains Tamil Nadu cricketers South Zone cricketers Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Tamil sportspeople 1959 births Living people College of Engineering, Guindy alumni Indian Premier League Cricketers from Chennai India national cricket team selectors Indian cricket commentators Indian sports broadcasters Cricketers who have acted in films Indian cricket coaches Indian Premier League coaches