Venkatapathy Raju: 'Muscles from Brussels' winds back the clock

Art by Rajan Gaikwad Remember the 2001 Eden Gardens classic? Ah! Well, there is no way it can be flushed out of our memories. It was all about VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid’s mastery, Indian batsmen’s mastery over Shane Warne, and Harbhajan Singh’s guile. There are high chances you could master any quiz when it came to these characters. But there is one hidden trivia which many would find hard to remember. It was also the last time, old warhorses Venkatesh Prasad and Venkatapathy Raju graced the cricketing field. Of the two, Raju played a small but crucial role in India creating history. He still feels proud of it. From Christchurch to Kolkata, the skinny finger spinner’s 11-year career was punctuated with success, failures, heartbreaks and disappointments. He was more of a domestic giant than an international colossus. As he turns 49, Firstpost winds back the clock with ‘Muscles’ who seems to be finally living up to his pseudonym. We will start off on a lighter note. When did you first hear the word ‘Muscles’ and how did it come about?  I was from a boarding school. We are more used to being with friends than family, and right from my childhood, we had spent time in the hostel which meant you meet people of different culture and develop strong bond. When I came into any cricket team, be it the Ranji Trophy or South Zone or the Indian team, I would always socialise. I was one of the thinnest guys. So one day while walking, South Africa’s Brian McMillan came and saw a very fragile body. He just touched me and said ‘Oh! full of muscles!’ (laughs). So from there, the name originated. We used to call him ‘Rhyno’ because he was a huge personality with big bucket hands. So that way it became a name for me. It was just a coincidence.

He was walking, felt me and I was so thin. He could not find any muscle on me (laughs), so he said I was full of muscles. That’s where it started. He’s been a very good friend of mine.

How did it spread like wildfire? Most of the South African players started calling me ‘Muscles’. And then Hansie Cronje used to call me ‘Muscles from Brussels’. When the West Indians saw me smile, they said I look like Mr Bean, so they started calling me that. So there were a lot of names (laughs). Then the first time, we were playing a game here (in Hyderabad) in the Wills Trophy. I was changing my shirt and I was so thin, Lalchand called me Bruce Lee because he could see only the bones. But then Muscles stuck for a long time because everybody started calling that. Whenever McMillan came in and saw me he used to shout ‘Muscles’ from far away. You came in as a successor to Maninder Singh in the late 1980s, and started off straightaway as a lead spinner. How much pressure were you under knowing that you are going to spearhead the spin attack? Luckily what happened was that I made my debut at 16-and-half in Ranji Trophy, and before that we played in the U-19 tours. We had a lot of tournaments, right from the U-14 age group to U-25. Also in Hyderabad, we had Mohammed Azharuddin, Shivlal Yadav, all these Test players. They also played domestic cricket, and watching them was an education. When we bowled against them at a young age, it taught us how to set fields, how to bowl to a batsman. We always depended on the wicketkeeper to tell us where to bowl. It was more of a learning process and att that time, we had enough time to prepare for the season. I played my initial games out of the country, so there was not much pressure. I had already played with the greats. The criteria for selection for South Zone itself was stringent, and you could get into the squad only after three consistent seasons. Unlike other places, Hyderabad had 90 (one innings) -40 (other innings) three-day games for U-14s. So you are already playing a longer format. And right from my younger days, I always bowled longer spells, which gave me control. With your bowling action, people thought that you are very casual. How did you take that criticism? Everone has an opinion, but you have to be positive in whatever you do. I looked very casual but that’s the way I was brought up. I was brought up amongst friends, so we were more of a laughing type, not that serious. We looked casual, but on the field, that intensity was always there.

People misunderstood me because I would make friends easily. I would like to go out, I can’t sit in a room once I am done. I used to socialise with the opposition teams. But then, I knew my limitations.

And they didn’t realise how much you learn by talking about cricket. On the field, it’s different, nobody is going to be your friend. It was more of once the day is done, you switch off, relax and the next morning, on the field, you switch on. That was my policy. Whereas there were some serious cricketers who thought only and only cricket. So I wasn’t a part of that. I could never be a part of that (laughs). [imgcenter]

[/imgcenter]​ How did you develop that simple action? I was fortunate to have that. I was never a big guy where everything was smooth. And I used to run a lot when I was young, more of long distance running. And from my physique, it just came naturally. It looked very effortless, people thought I was very casual, sometimes. I could bowl longer because of that action. So you did not try to change your action? I knew what was good for me. Initially, in all the age groups - U-15 state, zone and national, I was attending three different coaches. They all had their own minds. Everybody felt they wanted to improve you. But then some won’t fit into you. There is nothing wrong with listening. You listen, just take what was good. Bishan paaji wanted us to bowl like him, which is impossible. I and Venkataraman were bowling in the New Zealand nets, he (Bishan Paaji) finished his routine came and asked, “Son, is the wicket turning?” I said no. He said give me the ball and the first ball he bowled, it turned a mile. He said, “B*****d, you have to turn the ball, the ball is not going to turn for you (laughs). You can’t bowl like him. You can just see what he is doing. I just tried to do what I was good at, and what was comfortable for me. Consistently hitting the right lines and lengths was your biggest strength, how did you develop that habit? Right from the U-14 days, it was my strength. The coaching policy that time when you came into the nets, you were supposed to bowl for two-three hours. You had to bowl to six batsmen and had to train for that. There were no mini-tournaments. We were all employed by banks and banks always gave you time for practice. So when we came and finished the training, the trend that time was you have to bowl longer and as a spinner, even longer. And when you are tired, you are supposed to bowl even longer. That was the trend at that time and it really helped us. You had to train really hard to be fit. Bowling for so long and the trajectory I had, it really helped me to hit the spot. Somethings come as a blessing in disguise, that was the blessing for me to have that line and length. With you being so thin, didn’t you think of hitting the gym? I tried, but nothing was happening because my physique was like that. Then it became more about strength. I tried my best to do squats, this…that but nothing happened. But I used to run a lot and do bodyweight exercise. At the fag end of the career, tried to hit the gym but it was a little late then. Sometimes you are natural, like being a spinner, you are not supposed to have a bulky body. All the seniors criticised you when you lifted weights (laughs). They said you are a spinner, use just your wrist and arm, not muscle. But now it’s altogether different.

We were lucky in the 80s and 90s that people came to watch our skill. Probably if we were in this era, we might have been hitting the gym more.

You first Test series was the tour to New Zealand, where conditions are favourable for the seamers and not spinners. How nervous were you? I was always consistent. If the wicket wasn’t helping much, I always knew I can contain a batsman. My strength was line and length. Initially, when I started, I was quicker but later on learnt how to bowl on different wickets because the batsmen were so good, they adapted. But luckily, there was no pressure at all. At that time, NZ were not known to be good players of spin so that was also a little advantage, going into a Test series. I knew all the players and they made me comfortable. Bishen Singh Bedi was our coach. Sometimes we used to get embarrassed because we couldn’t bowl like him. When you saw him bowl in the nets, he was classical and different. But then we also had our own style of bowling. He would criticise us sometimes but it was always a healthy criticism. Especially when he was there, watching him, that pressure was more than bowling in a match (laughs). Ravi Shastri always used to tell us, when Bishan is bowling, don’t look at him. With an easy action, he had mastered that skill in the longer format for many years. When you see his rhythm, we looked like idiots. The only problem I initially had was the ball. Because here we played with Sonex which had a big seam. But when you bowl with a Kookaburra ball, it doesn’t have a prominent seam. I remember my first wicket was Martin Crowe, that gave me more confidence because he was one of the best players of spin - he and John Wright during that time. There was no Indian crowd, so when you are playing on the foreign soil, there was no pressure at all. Luckily. It was always about self-confidence for me, I enjoyed my bowling and I knew my limitations and I never tried to exceed that. I always enjoyed bowling where there is a little help, but when there is no help I used to be a miser, and not give away runs. You started off well with three wickets in first innings, and your first was Martin Crowe. Take us through that wicket (LBW). Martin Crowe was very good at sweeping. And his footwork was so good. You could see the class in him. I had a very good arm ball that time. The wickets don’t help you spin that much. And from my physique, nobody expected that ball to come that quicker, that helped me a lot. Getting him LBW, that too in New Zealand (was an achievement), because New Zealand was known for umpiring errors that time as they were not used to spinners. They were more comfortable umpiring when fast bowlers were bowling and when the ball didn’t turn. Martin was a world-class batsman. He was caught plumb in front. The arm ball was good. He didn’t expect the ball to come that quicker. It really injected confidence and motivation when I took that wicket. Was it a planned wicket? You had decided it beforehand that you will bowl an arm ball to him? During that time, whenever someone wasn’t comfortable, they wanted to sweep you. Initially, he was there trying to sweep. And he had a long stride. I just didn’t want him to sweep, and bowled a little quicker. He was caught on that because he was right up and by the time he could go back, it shot in. That was in a way a plan to bowl that ball and get him. You were also sent in as a nightwatchman in your first ever innings. You came in at No 5 and scored 31 runs… (Interrupts) Yes and was the last guy to get out (laughs). When did you realise that you were going to be the nightwatchman and what was your reaction to that? We played a lot of cricket here (in Hyderabad) on uncovered wickets and we had some good fast bowlers like Srinath and all playing domestic cricket at that time and they were quick. But then I always stood there for almost 2-3 hours. They always told you 20 mins before. There was no fear. I could stay there for a long time, it was a good challenge. When they said nightwatchman, I said okay not bad… first Test match nightwatchman, not bad (laughs)… Wickets were falling at the other end but I just wanted to be there. I always valued my wicket. I was comfortable with fast bowling. But the most I regret was the next match. Sachin was batting on 88 in Napier, I was his partner. We were overnight not out and the next day morning first ball Morrison bowled Sachin hit a four. Then we ran all four off the next ball and on the third I went and told him ‘Boss take it easy, we’ve already run’, take it easy. He was batting on 88 and got out driving, otherwise, he would have been the youngest batsman to score a hundred. And I would have been on the wicket along with him and would have proudly said, ‘Okay I stood there to get that century (laughs)’. I was upset that he didn’t get that. He was batting brilliantly and at that age, whatever we saw, at least I would have been a part of history standing beside him. What was it like bowling to Sachin in the nets? You never bowl to him (in the nets). Because he would hit you all over. Especially when he was young and when he came in, even in a match, he was very attacking. Very, very attacking. The second match of his Ranji Trophy career was in Hyderabad on the Gymkhana grounds. You won’t believe there was a crowd of 15-20,000. The Parade ground on the opposite side has around 22 pitches like the maidans of Mumbai, and all those boys came to watch this prodigy. Because he had already got a hundred on his debut and that in itself was an experience for us. He got out to me, LBW. He was not happy with that but you could see the impact with such a large crowd coming to see him. He was a God’s gift. Not only me, anybody who bowled in the nets, he could never keep him quiet. I still remember we were practising in Chennai at the MRF Pace Academy. It had one of the bounciest wickets and he could go and bat on it very confidently. All those MRF trainees, they never bowled up to the stumps, as the wicket was quicker, they always used to bounce. The other batsmen were struggling but he could hit pull shots. He took it as a challenge. Whenever he batted it was nice to be on the other side. Just before he came into the Indian team in 1989, Rest Of India were playing Delhi in Mumbai. In the second innings I was batting with him. One side Maninder was bowling brilliantly with a serious field. At the other end, captain Kirti Azad was bowling with a typical field where he was bowling five different balls. See the difference between the batsman and a tailender. I went and told him, ‘Boss, Kirti is coming so go after him, it will be easy runs’. At that age, he told me, ‘Kirti himself doesn’t know what he is bowling and the field that he put was a trying one. Whereas, Maninder was bowling with a serious field so at least we know what line he is going to bowl so I will hit him over extra cover. It’s easier to hit him rather than Kirti. That mind he already had at such a young age. He went on to get a hundred. The maturity that he had, you won’t expect it from a 14-year-old guy. [imgcenter]

[/imgcenter] After NZ, you went to England and got hit on the knuckles and couldn’t play a match. How disappointing was it to miss that tour? We were 120/6 against Gloucestershire when I walked in. Kiran More was batting at the other end. I played two-three overs and then Walsh came back to polish it off. I played two maidens off him. He was getting frustrated. He always had that deep in-cutter and the ball hit my left hand but they made me play. Kiran told Ali, the physio, to let me stay, and then I kept on batting and batting and it broke. Everyone’s dream was to play in England, especially the Lord’s. There were printing shops there and I bought a T-shirt printed saying ‘Beer drinkers have more guts’. I wore that and came in with a plaster. Bishan paaji was like ‘You deserve one beer, have a beer’ (laughs), you proved it, good on you.’ I was just coming into the rhythm, slowly getting into wickets and this happened. Injuries are a part of life but I was never afraid to shy away. And then only in your third Test, you scalped six wickets in Mohali. Was that the turning point of your career? There was a twist to that. They had already announced the team and I was the 12th man. Ravi Shastri was our main left-arm spinner, then Narendra Hirwani and Gopal Sharma. The next day when Shastri went and saw the wicket, he said he is not bowling and on this wicket, he will open and bring me in. He felt I am much better suited to that. Azhar, the then captain, was a little hesitant because they had to drop a batsman but then Shastri had a word with him and opened the innings. That’s the first Test I was playing in India and the Indian team was playing a Test at home after a very long time. Luckily, I found that rhythm in one spell and in the second innings they never took a chance. They were not looking to hit me. Marvan Atapattu and Rumesh Ratnayake and all thought that I was a ball boy who would sit outside the fence and bowl in the nets. By the time they realised, I had already got six wickets. (laughs). Later, whenever they saw me, they would say, ‘We never knew you were a part of the team and you ran through the batting order.’ My record against Sri Lanka was always very good. What did you do differently in that Sri Lanka series? I just pushed it through. We were trying to flight the ball but nothing was happening. It was more of a low bounce wicket and not a turner. I was quicker that time and the trajectory and the speed of the ball was good, so that helped me. And by the time I also realised, they were six down. Early in your career, you played a lot of Tests in New Zealand, Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa. You think that was tough on you? Not really. Sometimes it takes the pressure off you. When you are sitting here in India and not playing matches, that is tougher. Initially, playing away from India helped a bit, because nobody was there to criticise you. And the advantage of having Azhar as a captain was that, he always gave you what you wanted. If you see the difference between him and Sachin, Sachin was a brilliant player, so he never wanted to lose, he wanted everybody to be as intense as him, you could see him talking to bowlers every time. Azhar wasn’t like that, he was like, you are a bowler, playing at a certain level, you put your own field. He could give you the field you wanted. If you are sitting and not playing in India that means you are not good enough. Sometimes it didn’t go my way, if you see the 1993 West Indies series, I picked up 20 wickets in three games and then was dropped against England. Initially, you never knew what hit you. That was the time I was getting my proper rhythm and I was close to 30s, more matured and straightaway I was out of the team. And then I was in and out of the team. So after sometime, you just fade away. I was more happy coming and playing the Ranji Trophy. Because you had your team, there is no pressure, seniormost so they respected you in a different way. When you go out of it, the rhythm also breaks. I felt bad but then just moved on. We only played cricket, nothing else. That also helped us to help the young guys coming up. You averaged 24 in India and 52 away from home. You surely enjoyed playing on Indian pitches? Yes, naturally. But there is a difference between a turner and an underprepared wicket. What we played on were turners, not underprepared wickets. The difference is that and you had to work hard to get those wickets. It’s not just you come, bowl and get wickets. In the mid-90s, the Kumble-Raju-Rajesh Chauhan combination worked well. What made the trio click? I was talking to Mark Taylor one day. We were sitting in a bar in Kolkata after 1998 when we beat them. I asked him being a captain what kind of attack he generally likes. He said, ‘When we play West Indies, four fast bowlers are coming at you, against England so and so is coming at you but in India, one swing bowler, one fast bowler, three different spinners (left-arm spinner, right-arm leg spin, right-arm off-spin) are at you and getting runs against them was a challenge. That really helped us also, because there was a different variety. But if you see, in most of the matches that we won in India, fast bowlers always got us breakthroughs. Kapil paaji, Manoj (Prabhakar) or Srinath, they also got us breakthroughs. And with a new batsman walking in, it gives an added advantage. Against the left-handers there was the off-spin of Rajesh. Against the right-handers, there was the leg-spin of Kumble. Against both left and right, I was always there. I picked up wickets against Sri Lanka and West Indies which had lot of left-handers. The batsmen put up the runs on the board so that became much easier for us. Rajesh once recalled, whatever match he played we never lost (laughs). [imgcenter]

[/imgcenter]​ After Kumble’s emergence, you took over the mantle of a support role. Was the transition difficult? Not difficult, really. In a way, it was much easier for us because the focus was on him. It’s easy to bowl with him. There is not much discussion, he always told you what to do, how to put the pressure, at one end he is putting pressure anyway. And to play him in Indian conditions was impossible. The fear in the batsman was already there. So your job was only to come and bowl at that place and create that pressure. So you knew the wicket is coming if you bowl well, which happened. We won a lot of matches. You have known Kumble for a long time and had formed a formidable partnership on the field. Were you surprised at the way the Kohli-Kumble thing went over? Kumble is a serious guy. He would have been very good for young guys. He is more of an inspiration, he’s seen so much in life. He’s gone through all the ups and downs and he’s been successful playing for such a long time. He had something in his mind where he wanted Indian cricket to reach. So he had his style of coaching. We don’t know what exactly happened there. And then we saw typical Anil, once there is something wrong, he just moves away. He’s been like that. If you see when he was bowling at his peak, he was dropped from the team but he never cribbed. He was always, there, still stuck, again came back and became a successful bowler. That’s the way he is. He is self-confident and has the self-belief.

Whatever Anil Kumble does is always for the betterment of whatever subject he takes up. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way life is, knowing Anil, he doesn’t wait for somebody to bring him in or take him out. He just moves on, like his cricket. You can learn a lot from him.

Did you have any altercations on the cricket field? I was batting in Melbourne (91-92 series), Merv Hughes came and bounced the first ball on the helmet and then he started getting closer, growl at me and go back. So when we were flying from Brisbane to Perth, after a couple of drinks I went straight up to him. Everybody was wondering why I was going to him. He was reading a paper, I said ‘Hey, big fellow’ he looked at me and ignored, I said I am talking to you, he said ‘What’s the problem?’ I said,‘Why the hell were you growling at me. You knew I couldn’t bowl a bouncer at you, hitting me here and there you are trying to growl at me?’ He said, ‘That’s the way we play’ I said I don’t like your bloody moustache. I pulled his moustache in the flight (laughs) and it became a big news. But then he became a good friend. He used to come and wink and go back. So we did a lot of crazy things. Sachin, in his book, wrote that they thought the Aussies might kill me watching me walk and pull his moustache. The home series against West Indies was the best of your career with 20 wickets. In three Tests you scalped Brian Lara four times. How did you have the wood over one of the best? He was always a dominating batsman and you knew that he was going to come after you anyway. If you see the West Indies series, Anil wasn’t in his best form but the expectations from Anil were like whenever he has the ball, like Sachin, he is also supposed to pick six wickets. So my job was to come and bowl consistently. That’s the time I was at my peak. The ball release, control, everything was good. And we knew he (Lara) is going to come after us. It was like ‘Just come and bowl well, don’t try anything. You don’t have to’. So the line was more important. And I was getting that lines correct regularly. Tell us about your equation with wicket-keepers Nayan Mongia and Kiran More… Kiran More was the one who made me famous. When the stump cam came, he used to shout ‘Raju’, ‘well bowled Raju’ and the best thing about them they had a similar lifestyle as mine. He enjoyed his life. Nayan and I we played with each other right from U-19 World Cup time, 1988, so that was a different bond. Both of them made me famous by shouting from behind. Any ground I visited, people started chanting Raju….Raju. They used to tell me what pace to bowl, where to bowl. If you see Dhoni now, he keeps advising from behind the stumps. The keeper-bowler bonding is very important. And then we had Chandrakant Pandit, it was nice fun. They enjoyed themselves, worked hard, the camaraderie was so good. It was fun plus serious cricket. Was it a motivating factor also? It was a big motivating factor. When the keeper keeps praising you, especially when there is a good ball, it puts a lot of pressure on the batsman also. And that is always pushing you to bowl well. They kept pumping me all the time and did a brilliant job. Your enthusiasm is different when it is coming from the keeper. It all started going downhill for you in the late 1990s, what went wrong? They were looking for all-rounders. Sunil Joshi was more of a guy who can bat and bowl and then a lot of guys came in. The all-rounder thing went against me and then you knew the fitness levels were going down. I came back to Ranji Trophy and because we were seniors, we had the privilege of standing in slips or short mid-wicket, where we are not running after the ball. With experience, you could bowl. But then the realisation struck.  In 2001, when they picked us again, everyone was called to Chennai where all these beep tests were conducted which we never performed. And there you realised it wouldn’t have gone for a longer time because we were already in the 30s. That made us realise how the game is changing and what fitness levels you need to be playing there. I came in, played the Test match. We won 2-1. Was part of the historic (Eden Gardens) match. But then we were all on our way. That’s where different types of captains came in. You went out of favour after the 1998 Australia series. With India struggling to find a settled support spinner for Kumble, do you think you deserved more chances? Probably during that time (when I was playing well and dropped after West Indies series). It’s not that we didn’t do well. If you are not picking wickets or winning matches then it’s okay but that time we were bowling well. After picking so many wickets and then against England, Kumble picked up 22 wickets and I picked up 17, but then too we were in and out. During that phase, I felt it was my peak. But then that’s how life is, the new guys come in, new energy comes in and new combination comes in. I realised this after I became a selector. If I wasn’t playing a single game, it doesn’t mean that I have to sit there and cry. There was one spinner and three medium pacers and our main spinner was Kumble, so I am not going to get a chance unless he’s injured. I was doing my own training and like I said, I can’t sit in a room, I love to meet everybody. You feel bad for some time but then you have to carry on with your life. Your last Test was the famous 2001 Kolkata Test…… Yeah…Yeah…Laxman’s 281…I was never expecting it. I thought that I would probably be picked for the first Test because if you see Mumbai wicket is more of a turner. And Rahul Sanghvi was a better bowler on better tracks because he used to play in Delhi where the track wasn’t a big turner that time. I was going for a Ranji match and I got to know at the railway station that I had been picked. But like I said, we were already out of it, the fitness levels and all that, and I wasn’t at my best when I was picked up. Harbhajan was bowling so well and Sourav had more confidence in him because he was picking up wickets in every match. Three matches, 33 wickets and he was at his peak. So ( for us) it was more like bowling short spells. But in the end, at least I got Mark Waugh. Another LBW. My career started with an LBW and ended with an LBW (laughs), got two good batsmen. One thing about that particular match is that’s where the actual confidence came into Indian cricket. I and Laxman were batting in the first innings, Chetan Chauhan came there, Madan Lal was the selector, Chetan was just telling how funny cricket can be. How he and Gavaskar saved matches in Pakistan. He was just telling that anything can happen. And then Laxman said, ‘No sir, we might win this match.’ I was like has he gone mad or what? What the hell is he talking? But the way Chetan and Madan put it, the attitude was that the match is not over until the last ball is bowled. It was one of those rare matches. It was my last, but a good one. To be in the photograph would have been much better because that was a historic match but it was already so late people just went off, we didn’t have a proper photograph of that match. And this is the first time we saw Australian fielders panicking. After that Test, did the Australians have a word with you? Actually, when John Wright came in, the Indian team was so intense on winning, that I was told not to meet them. I had a lot of friends in the Australian team. I was told not to socialise until the match was over. So when I was on the field taking catches, Mark Waugh, Shane Warne were all running around greeting ‘Hi Raju, Hi Raju’. I didn’t look at them. So they were stunned, ‘What the hell, you are not looking at us’ and I didn’t go to their room also. So after the match, I told them this is what it is. Then they realised how intense it was and how they wanted to change the setup. Looking back, do you feel proud that you also played whatever small part you could? Yes, that one wicket. That wicket (of Mark Waugh) was very crucial. The wickets were not falling. If you see, the whole pattern of the match, we were hardly getting bowling. But that particular over I bowled, Rahul Dravid was keeping, Mongia was injured. One ball went over the bail, the other ball almost got him bowled. Then the third one came in. After that everything changed. So at least I can say I played a part. In a team game your contribution can be little but when it helps you to be part of history, then it is cherishable. Why did Hyderabad produce so many wristy and stylish players? Most of our cricket was played on matting (wickets). On matting, you need different skill. You need more of a back foot play. There is some help for the bowlers also, the ball deviates a bit and also grips. So it gave you options to play those strokes. That’s why you saw Azharuddin, Laxman, Jaisimha or Abbas Ali Baig, they are all good at hitting those. And if you see in the south that time, the batsmen were aggressive, they could hit and had all the strokes. That’s the gift of Hyderabad. Why has that supply chain stopped now? After VVS Laxman, we don’t see any world class cricketers coming from Hyderabad. There is so much competition nowadays. Everyone wants to play cricket. So if you see the quantity has gone up and quality has gone down. There are so many matches, people are getting runs left right and centre and then quality teams are lesser. Now every parent is interested (in getting their child into cricket), so many academics have come up. Everyone wants to play but there will be only one good player in the team. But slowly, the quality is coming back. You were the selector when India won the inaugural World T20. How did you take the call of making Dhoni the captain? A lot of people and even the players were disappointed at not being given the captaincy after playing so many matches. But Dhoni’s his mannerisms, coolness and the way he started winning games, scoring big hundreds made easy for Vengsarkar (then chairman of selectors) and us. We said, right, young fellow, matchwinner, put him in. We never thought he would be such a good captain. So in a way, it was a vision… Yes, before that he went on ‘A’ tours and Kiran More and all were there and had already identified him. They knew that there is something in him. You see Rahul Dravid being the coach of U-19 and A team, he is already giving inputs about the players. So it makes easier for the selectors. Looking back, do you have any regrets? Not really. I was very fortunate to play with the best players during that time. Whatever came my way, I gave my best. It is and always be a pleasure that we were part of an Indian team for so long. In India, so many people dream about it. 53 ODIs and two World Cups, you can’t dream about playing for so long. Probably there was one phase where I would have (hoped) to play a little more which didn’t happen. So no regrets. I enjoyed my time with Hyderabad Ranji side. 100 games, it was good fun. We were lucky to have players who helped us and it’s our duty to guide the young guys coming up.