Subramaniam Badrinath, the affable middle-order mainstay of Tamil Nadu and Chennai Super Kings. Of course, it is another matter that the dreaded quota system has time and again conspired to keep him out of the Indian test team where lesser mortals have rode on the media’s shoulders to claim a slot that Badri had every right to aspire for.
For, any player with 15 centuries and 20 half-centuries fro 65 first-class games with an average of 56 runs apiece, is bound to feel hard-done when players with dubious technique and temperament were force-fitted into the national test team. Maybe, it was his robust technique and grafting nature that pushed Badrinath into the shadow in an era epitomised by stroke-makers like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and now Yusuf Pathan. Neither the fans, nor the selectors had the patience to watch a player who got behind every ball.
For the uninitiated, Badrinath was pitch-forked onto the national radar in the 2005-06-season when he scored 636 runs from seven matches with an average of 80-plus. The next year wasn’t as good but Badri still managed an average of 50-plus and what’s more he scored runs not just on home soil but on overseas A-tours too. In the 2007-08 Ranji season he was back with a bang scoring at over 65 runs an innings, a feat that got him recognition from ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who captained the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
In fact, Badrinath had a big part to play in the CSK’s journey to the finals of the inaugural IPL. Time and again he scored match-winning knocks for the “team in yellow” and on more than one occasion Dhoni complimented the Tamil Nadu player for his commitment to the team and understanding of match situation.
And it is precisely this cricketing mind that has been under focus for the past few days when Badrinath has led the India-A team admirably in the tri-series tournament against Australia-A and their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand. After a couple of early losses, the Indian A team has rebounded strongly, thanks to yet another match-winning innings from their captain.
Badri’s ability to rally the team around himself was evident in the last two games against New Zealand, both of which were won rather easily by the hosts. His crisp fielding and quick bowling changes ensured that the opponents were never let off the hook. More importantly, they were never allowed to relax in a comfort zone. So, we had the Kiwis floundering against the none-too-dangerous off-spin of Suresh Raina in Chennai.
In a country where “horses-for-courses” is still by far an alien concept and where television commentators and sports editors of television channels lend their own bias to team selection, Badrinath is probably destined to be a Godfather-less orphan. His earlier chances came as a result of injuries to senior players and sadly for Badri, that remains his only chance even today. Of course, with the new selection committee slated to take over soon, maybe Badrinath’s luck may change too.
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