No Google No Statsguru Trivia : with prizes :-)

[Rajan]

Hari, have you watched Surinder Amarnath bat, live? what is your opinion on his batting? i have read some ex.players articles saying he was a better batsman than Mohinder. but sadly, the selectors took revenge against him( and also on Jimmy) because they hated Lala Amarnath.

[sharma]

hari, u got pics of that lillie kick boxing incident?

[Guest HariSampath]

Hari, have you watched Surinder Amarnath bat, live? what is your opinion on his batting? i have read some ex.players articles saying he was a better batsman than Mohinder. but sadly, the selectors took revenge against him( and also on Jimmy) because they hated Lala Amarnath.

I have Surinder Amarnath bat on tv, he hadnt played any test at the Chepauk, but he was a brilliant left handed stroke player. I certainly think he was far more talented than Mohinder. He had a little bit of an attitude problem. He made a brilliant 100 on debut, going from 93 to 99 with a 6, but fell away slightly after that. In fact after India lost to England 0-3 in the first 3 tests of 1976-77 series, Surinder was brought back in for the 4th test at Bangalore to counter the left arm bowling of John Lever and Derek Underwood. He got a couple of 60s and a 40 in the last 2 tests and we won the 4th test because of him. This was in a series when the Indians including Gavaskar , Vishwanath, Mohinder and Vengsarkar hardly getting a 50 On the tour of Australia , he was totally out of focus, and used to refuse to play games, and although he returned due to "injury", there were reports of other issues. Gavaskar didnt have a high opinion of his attitude and eventually he didnt play after the 1978 Pakistan tour.

[Guest HariSampath]

hari' date=' u got pics of that lillie kick boxing incident?[/quote'] It was Richard Hadlee...but no, I havent seen any electronic pic, I remember only the pic published by The Hindu, maybe they would have it in their archives.

[Rajan]

I have Surinder Amarnath bat on tv, he hadnt played any test at the Chepauk, but he was a brilliant left handed stroke player. I certainly think he was far more talented than Mohinder. He had a little bit of an attitude problem. He made a brilliant 100 on debut, going from 93 to 99 with a 6, but fell away slightly after that. In fact after India lost to England 0-3 in the first 3 tests of 1976-77 series, Surinder was brought back in for the 4th test at Bangalore to counter the left arm bowling of John Lever and Derek Underwood. He got a couple of 60s and a 40 in the last 2 tests and we won the 4th test because of him. This was in a series when the Indians including Gavaskar , Vishwanath, Mohinder and Vengsarkar hardly getting a 50 On the tour of Australia , he was totally out of focus, and used to refuse to play games, and although he returned due to "injury", there were reports of other issues. Gavaskar didnt have a high opinion of his attitude and eventually he didnt play after the 1978 Pakistan tour.

Thanks Hari. i always had a good opinion about TE Srinivasan's technique. one of his relatives was my friend(he was TA shekar's relative too). he told me that when India toured Australia in the late 70's early 80's, in a side game, when India lost a few top order wickets in a hurry, TE had told the batsman going in , to tell Dennis Lillee- " Dennis, beware, TE is coming in next"! i remember him scoring 29 and 16 against Kiwis on a tough pitch in the only test he had played. do you think selection politics ruined his career?

[Guest HariSampath]

Wow...I was just gonna post about TE and you beat me to it :-) TE was one of the most fabulous batters I had ever seen, most unfortunately he was not given an extended run in tests. In fact in that test match, the last of the series and the only one he played, Gavaskar, Vishwanath , Vengsarkar Patil and others had failed on a greentop pitch, and there was a middle order collapse and TE came in at 50-4, batted 1 1/2 hours for 29 run runs displaying superb technique against the viciously seaming ball. He got a bad decision given caught behind. In the second innings, India facing a possible innings defeat , were 40-1 and TE was promoted to face the seam and swing of Hadlee Cairns and co...he batted for 2 hours , scored 19 runs and along with Vishwanath batted out a crucial session , and India climbed out of a hole. 29 and 19 on his test debut in very tough conditions on a greentop against some high quality seam bowling should have certainly earned him a few more tests, but most inexplicably he was never selected for India again. In the very next test India played against England back home, most inexplicably Chetan Chauhan too was dropped as he was one of those who had done well in that twin tour of Aus and NZ in 1980-81. Instead, Srikkanth who got 3 consecutive scores of 87, 78 and 66 against the visiting Eng attack of Willis, Dilley and Botham in tour games , was selected to make his debut. I had always thought that Cheeka was extremely lucky to get a test chance so soon when TE had a better claim, but there were other things apart from cricket that decided TE's non selection. Apparently during a net session in Australia , when Gavaskar had been struggling for runs all through, TE after seeing him bat had told him that his backlift was not straight enough and he was missing the line or edging as a result. Vengsarkar who was waiting for his turn in the nets got terribly angry and started to take off on TE who had not even made his test debut . TE of course had told Rodney Hogg , who had just taken 40 test wkts in an Ashes series, and come to India , " Stop bowling off spinners " , straight on his face, during a tour match...LOL he always had a terrific sense of humor :-) I still remember a couple of straight drives he played off Dennis Lillee in the ODI games. Yes, that story about " Tell Dennis TE has arrived" is perhaps one of the most famous stories from the Aus tour of 1980-81 :-) I had been told by many folks that he just remarked so in humor to a journo on his arrival in Australia, some say it was Chetan Chauhan who actually said that, while others say it was a apocryphal story on TE. Unfortunately he is suffering from a brain tumor last 3 years, hope he gets ok.

[Rajan]

I am sad. he was one of my favourite cricketers in my youth. he was dour at times but he was the wall for TN batting. i was not aware of his illness. actually i read an interview of him recommending seamer Rajamani Jesudoss for an india call up couple of years back. he was also coaching the TN ranji team. i pray he recovers and contributes more to cricket and his family.