Krishnamachari Srikkanth

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Kris Srikkanth India (Ind)
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Off Spin (OS)
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	43	146
Runs scored	2062	4091
Batting average	29.88	29.01
100s/50s	2/12	4/27
Top score	123	123
Overs bowled	36	118.4
Wickets	0	25
Bowling average	0	25.64
5 wickets in innings	0	2
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best bowling	0	5/27
Catches/stumpings	40/0	42/0
As of December 13, 2005 Source: Cricinfo.com

Krishnamachari "Kris" Srikkanth pronunciation (help·info) (born 21 December 1959 in Chennai, India) is a former Indian cricket player.

He made his one-day international debut against England in Ahmedabad in 1981, followed two days later by his Test debut against England at Mumbai. Srikkanth made his debut at the age of 21 as an opener of the Indian team to partner Sunil Gavaskar. Both batsmen had entirely different approaches to their batting. Gavaskar was more of the orthodox technical batsman and Srikkanth was prolific hitter and a swashbuckling batsman. Srikkanth redefined batting with his power hitting and he gave so wonderful starts to the team against even the toughest of oppositions. He was gifted with good eye and super quick reflexes. Consistency was not his forte. With more technical batsman in the side during his times like Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Shastri etc, he could fancy hitting the bowlers all over.

Srikkanth was a stylish opening batsman with a keen eye and sharp reflexes, allowing him to play aggressive attacking strokes with power and precision. Although somewhat rash in execution, which led to his downfall at times, his swashbuckling style and free scoring like Virender Sehwag were a favourite with Indian crowds, making him a popular player.

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 Cup. He was made the captain of the Indian team in 1989. He never hesitated to experiment like he did against England where India had a target of 260 to chase and had lost two early wickets and Srikkanth sent all-rounder Chetan Sharma to bat at number 4 and Sharma returned with a score of 103 and India won the game. He remained the captain of the team for India's tour of Pakistan in 1989 and managed to draw all the four Tests of the series, which was seen by many as an honourable result. But the selectors disappointed with his batting failures, controversially dropped him. He returned two years later and played for another year before being dropped again. By this time, he had entered the 30s and his reflexes were slowing down. He retired from international cricket in 1993 after not being picked for the South Zone team. 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 at Vishakapatnam in 1988.

After retirement he took up the mantle of coaching the India 'A' team and was a quite successful stint. Now he is a broadcaster and commentator with a sports channel.

Srikkanth played 43 Tests for India, scoring 2,062 runs at an acceptable average of 29.88. His style was better suited to one-day internationals, where he compiled a significantly better record of 146 matches for 4,091 runs at a good average of 29.01. He also bowled off spin regularly in ODIs, taking 25 wickets at a very good average of 25.64. He also lost his flamboyance after he became captain of the Indian team.

Preceded by Dilip Vengsarkar

Indian national cricket captain 1989/90

Succeeded by Mohammad Azharuddin

[edit] External links

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Preceded by Dilip Vengsarkar

Indian National Test Cricket Captain 1989/90

Succeeded by Mohammad Azharuddin

	India squad - 1983 Cricket World Cup Champions (1st Title)
1 Kapil Dev | 2 Gavaskar | 3 Srikkanth | 4 Vengsarkar | 5 Patil | 6 Amarnath | 7 Yashpal | 8 Binny | 9 Madan Lal | 10 Kirmani | 11 Azad | 12 Sandhu | 13 Shastri | 14 Valson | 15 None | Coach: Unknown

	India squad - 1987 Cricket World Cup Semi-finalists
1 Kapil Dev | 2 Gavaskar | 3 Srikkanth | 4 Vengsarkar | 5 Azharuddin | 6 Shastri | 7 Sidhu | 8 Binny | 9 Prabhakar | 10 More | 11 Maninder Singh | 12 Sivaramakrishnan | 13 Sharma | 14 Pandit | 15 None | Coach: Unknown

	India squad - 1992 Cricket World Cup
1 Azharuddin (c) | 2 Kapil Dev | 3 Srikkanth | 4 Shastri | 5 Manjrekar | 6 Tendulkar | 7 Jadeja | 8 Kambli | 9 Amre | 10 Prabhakar | 11 Srinath | 12 More | 13 Raju | 14 Banerjee | 15 None | Coach: Unknown