League Cricket in Chennai

In the 1970s when I was a young student the League Matches in Chennai were very famous and there used to be a huge crowd to watch the matches. I used to go and watch all the matches with my brothers. Myself and my second brother Ashok were very keen to watch the League Matches in both Chepauk and Marina Grounds.

We never used to see the Newspaper and there was no news about the League cricket in the radio. TV was non-existent at that time. But still we were fully informed about the matches and all our friends used to go to the ground as one group.

Jolly Rovers, Alwarpet CC, SPIC, MCC, YMA, IOB were some of the popular clubs in the First Division League in Chennai.

It was a real treat to watch matches in the Chepauk Stadium (which later became M.A.Chidambaram Stadium). This was the home ground of MCC (MadrasCricket Club) and I vividly remember the coincidence of Vivid Bharathi ( Radio Station) playing the song “Hai Jawani, Hai Diwani, Hut meri raani, rukh javo raani”. Kishore Kumar will sing “Giligili appa” “giligili appa” in that song and the entire crowd will sing in Chorus “Belli appa” Belliappa”. This coincidence has happened several times and if the Radio does not play that song we will any sing that song when M.M.Kumar and Belliappa come out as Openers for MCC.

The Matches used to be played in the true spirit of the game. It was a real “gentlemen game” at that time.

S.Venkataraghavan was the captain of YMA. He used to scold the fielders if there is any dropped catch or mis-fielding. He was the angry young man of the team.

Santhosh Kumar who is the son of the Groundsman in Chepauk used to play for IOB in the First Division League and we used to cheer him a lot. He was also in the School team representing Hindu High School and most of us were anyway students of the same school. It was a big proud moment for us to watch and cheer for one of our school seniors. Santhosh was a good spin bowler. K.Ramesh in my memory was the tallest man in LeagueCricket in Chennai those days. He used to be known as “Kaka” Ramesh and was a consistent performer for IOB.

V.V.Kumar was the only leg spinner in those days. Very stylish and very successful bowler who was extremely good in domestic cricket but was never selected for the National Team.

Raghavan was another good spin bowler. There was V.Prabhakar who was a good medium pace bowler and his brother V.Chandrasekar was also a very good player and a good captain.

S.Gopalakrishnan was the Gundappa Vishwanath of Madras. Very stylish and elegant player.

We had the dashing P.K.Dharmalingam and the Mr.Consistent K.R.Rajagopal. K.R.Rajagopal was the Captain and Wicket Keeper of Jolly Rovers.

Alwarpet CC had Satwender Singh who was a big hitter of the ball. There were a few consistent batsmen in those days like V.Krishnaswami and Mukund.

Michael Dalvi was the most handsome of the lot and he used to be only player to come in a Car. He used to drive white colour “Beetle” Volkswagen in those days.

Myself and my brother Ashok used to run and pat at the back of the players when they come back for Lunch or Tea. We both enjoyed patting on the back of the Umpires and we used to tell them “well played”. Even now when I think of that I get a laugh and relish much in the same way like in the good old days when we both found it very amusing to go and pat the umpire on his back…

I do not know the status of League Cricket in Chennai today. We have so much of cricket now a days and so many variants but nothing to beat the good old days. League Matches played in one day and then there were three day matches and then the “King of All” – the Test Matches. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the First Division League Matches in Chennai in the 1970s and those remain truly unforgettable “Golden Memories”.

T.P.Anand, Dubai, U.A.E.
9th June 2010