Kris Srikkanth could have captained more games for India, feels L Sivaramakrishnan
Renowned commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan believes that Kris Srikkanth, who led the country in 17 games in 1989, could have captained India in more matches. Sivaramakrishnan labelled Srikkanth’s captaincy ‘aggressive’ and noted how the latter encouraged youngsters, including Sachin Tendulkar.
The Indian cricket team has overseen a plethora of big names who have captained the country, including Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sunil Gavaskar, but a skipper whose stint stands almost forgotten is Kris Srikkanth. After Dillip Vengsarkar’s reign came to an end in the mid/late 80s and after Ravi Shastri skippered the side for a solitary Test in 1988, Srikkanth was handed the leadership duties across formats in 1989. The Tamil Nadu man skippered the side in 13 ODIs and 4 Tests, after which he was dethroned by a young Azharuddin.
Despite not boasting a great record in terms of pure numbers - drawing all 4 Tests and having a 33.33 win % as skipper in ODIs - Srikkanth’s tenure oversaw a lot of positives, with one amongst them being the introduction of a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar into the first XI. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, who was Srikkanth’s teammate in the 1980s, noted that ‘Cheeka’ was an aggressive captain and opined that the Tamil Nadu man could have easily skippered way more matches than what he eventually did.
“Cheeka was an aggressive captain. He provided a lot of results. He was very proactive. A player like Tendulkar made his debut under Cheeka's captaincy,” Sivaramakrishnan said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected show, reported TOI.
“Cheeka's encouragement to Sachin Tendulkar at that young age gave him confidence and he went on to become the world's best batsmen. We've had a lot of inspirational captains, but I always feel Cheeka could have captained more."
Srikkanth, himself, meanwhile, spoke on the same show and the former chief selector drew parallels between the captaincy of Virat Kohli and Kapil Dev. The 60-year-old opined that both were aggressive leaders who always liked to go for the kill.
"Virat Kohli and Kapil Dev's approach are the same. Positive and aggressive. Go for the win first," said Srikkanth.
The former opener further spoke about the sheer absurdity of Kapil Dev’s historic 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup, which happened a little over 37 years ago.
"At that time, they were saying our odds of winning were 1 in 1000. But Kapil Dev was the main man behind that win. The guy has got a tremendous amount of confidence, self-belief and positive approach."