He blossomed late even though he was spotted early. A Test debut at 31 was a travesty, but T. E. Srinivasan, a feisty strokeplayer, never complained. They played him against New Zealand at Wellington in 1981, figured in two One Day Internationals, before he was forgotten. Three more years of domestic cricket convinced TE it was time to call it a day.
TE batted at No 6 and No 3 to make 29 and 19. He had shown superb form in Australia but failed to earn a Test slot. “His Test debut was late even though he always excelled against the visiting teams,” remembered Test bowler T. A. Sekar, who also suffered due to whims of the national selectors.
His 108 against Imran Khan, Abdur Qadir and Iqbal Qasim in a tour game in 1979 earned him lavish praise. He followed it up with a classy century against Delhi in the 1980 Irani Cup. His long-term colleague and Tamil Nadu fast bowler, B. Kalyanasundaram, recalled, “TE was a great player of spin. He could take on the fast bowlers with fire. His (130 not out) against Karnataka in the 1976 Ranji match was the best knock I have seen at the Chepauk. There was not a false shot.”
TE did not realise his own potential. He was often guilty of throwing his wicket away but that is the way he played his cricket. “He was the livewire of the team. As a batsman, he feared none. After the day’s play, he once called Rodney Hogg the fastest off-spinner he had faced. Hogg heard it and gave a torrid time to all the batsmen the next day. There were many stories about TE’s humour but he was a great motivator in the dressing room,” said Sekar.
Veteran scribe Gulu Ezekiel spent many years watching TE’s exploits. He shared an anecdote. “The Tamil Nadu-Delhi Ranji Trophy quarterfinal in 1982 was a stormy match with the Delhi players constantly sledging the home batsmen. I recall TE’s fury at this behaviour which he took out on the bowlers in the first innings with a belligerent 87. My abiding memory is the power of his driving with his shots hitting the Chepauk pickets which such force that the ball would rebound halfway back to the playing square.”
TE loved to dominate. Never mind if he lost the battle early, but he was not the one to scratch around. Not the best in terms of technique, he spent hours in honing his batting. “If it rained, he would drag me to the Meenambakkam ground to practice on a cemented wicket and ask me to bowl from 18 yards. He was hardly hustled,” mused Kalyanasundaram. It should be said that Kalyanasundaram was sharp off the pitch and commanded respect for the speed he generated.
It was hard to contain TE. He made little claims. Was always happy to accommodate, and his batting position was flexible too. He was comfortable at No 7 and would grab the chance to open when the offer came. He hit the ball hard and the drive was his favourite stroke. Old-timers remember TE as a stylish batsman who idolised the flamboyant M.L. Jaisimha. Pace could not curtail his freedom to play the shots.
Hyderabad off-spinner Noshir Mehta bowled to TE on many occasions, beginning with his debut season in 1970 when he scalped him in the second innings of the Ranji Trophy match at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. “We played against each other in Varsity cricket. I remember he once pulled the ball and struck me on the head. I was hospitalised and he visited me the next day. He was a very good batsman against fast bowling but played spin well too. His shots square of the wicket were breathtaking. I have seen few attacking batsmen like TE. He was aggressive on the field but also very friendly with the opponents,” said Mehta, who recently completed fifty years of participation in the Hyderabad Cricket Association League.
TE retired in 1984 with the Ranji match against Delhi when Madan Lal got him in both the innings. He later produced a coaching manual and remained in touch with the game at the grass root level. “Hard to refer to TE as a one-Test player. He was as good as anyone,” noted Kalyanasundaram. After battling brain cancer for six years, TE passed away at 60 in 2010.
(Tirumalai Echambadi Srinivasan played 1 Test (48 runs), 2 ODIs (10 runs), 75 First Class Matches (3487 runs, 5 centuries, 16 fifties); Career span: 1970-71 to 1983-84.)
