T. E. SRINIVASAN

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T. E. SRINIVASAN
(26 Oct 1950 - 6 Dec 2010)

Tirumalai Echambadi Srinivasan, for whom batting came almost naturally, the elegant right hander from Tamil Nadu made the task of scoring runs appear so very simple. Despite being spotted early, TE blossomed a trifle late, and with a Test debut at 31 he remained the near perfect batsman that India did not utilize...

With ML Jaisimha as his idol, TE began his first class career for Tamil Nadu from the 1970/71 season. His 3487 runs from 75 games @34.18, 149 his top score, 5 hundreds and 16 fifties and 62 catches till his retirement in the 1983/84 season, fail to mirror, in all fairness, his talent and potential...

Scoring 29 and 19 in his only Test (against New Zealand in Auckland, 1981) and a total of 10 in two ODIs one each against Australia and New Zealand, the selectors opted for a less accomplished batsman who could also turn his arm around for the following home series, and TE was a forgotten man thereafter...

A writer remarked that TE was perhaps born in the wrong decade to enter into an excessively feudal cricketing arena, not to his liking. His fascinating sense of humour was often misconstrued by teammates and all for arrogance and penchant for rubbing people the wrong way...

While TE could play pace with aplomb, his weakness against spin, left-arm ones in particular, probably led to his limited success, including missing his slot at times in the South Zone XI as well...

TE played for Woodhouse in Yorkshire League and Grade Cricket in Sydney. TE was a Ranji Trophy match referee. He helped Tamil Nadu Cricket Association in reviving the Marina Grounds. He had his own coaching manual, which was released by Kapil Dev...

TE was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in 2005. His grit, good cheer and high spirits helped him immensely through the struggle. As the perennially cheerful TE left for his Heavenly abode this day in 2010 just after he turned 60, it was noted by many that the Indian team, which wore black armbands in memory of a certain non-cricketer Mark Mascarenhas, did not consider it necessary to do likewise on their next ODI at Chinnaswamy Stadium three days later as a mark of respect to the departed former Test player. There was reportedly not even a silence of remembrance...

In the words of cricket writer Suresh Menon in his appreciation for the man:
“In the years between the eras of CD Gopinath and Krishnamachari Srikkanth, TE was the finest Tamil Nadu batsman — a case can be made for his being the finest ever, his back-foot play alone placing him above the rest. He was the quintessential Tamil Nadu batsman too, capable of unexpected beauty at unexpected moments but prey to self-doubt at other times.”

Most certainly, T. E. Srinivasan deserved much more, both in life and after...

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