Former Hyderabad fast bowler Harimohan Paruvu has authored a book on late M.V. Sridhar, former Hyderabad captain who went on to become the high-profile BCCI general manager (operations) before fate snatched him two years ago, at the age of 51.
‘The Renaissance Man’ is the fifth book by Harimohan, who was a member of the Hyderabad squad that won the Ranji Trophy, and two years junior to Sridhar at All Saint’s High School. The book has a foreword by former India batsman V.V.S. Laxman, who also will release it on Sunday, and comments by Mohd. Azharuddin, Anil Kumble, Venkatapathi Raju, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Anurag Thakur among others.
“I took up this project on Sridhar at the behest of his family members. Since I have seen the evolution of the wonderful personality of ‘Doc’, as the late cricketer was affectionately called, I have taken it up since it also gave me an opportunity to pay a fitting tribute to the gentleman cricketer,” Mr. Harimohan said.
“In a way, Sridhar’s rise to national repute by scoring 13 centuries in a row in the HCA leagues before making his Ranji debut was itself a fascinating story of success over adversity. He came from a background where he had no godfathers in the sport,” he added.
Sridhar is remembered for the deft handling of the infamous ‘Monkeygate’ scandal involving Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh as Indian team media manager during India’s 2007 tour of Australia.
“The successful conduct of 2016 T-20 World Cup in India with him as tournament director was itself a reminder of his administrative skills. Essentially, the book aims at unveiling the other side of Doc which not many may be aware of like the fact he was a loving son, a father, a friend and a mentor. He was also a good singer and even wrote plays with a sense of humour,” the former pacer said.
Mr. Harimohan had earlier penned ‘The Men Within – A Cricketing Tale’, which was made into a Telugu film, Golconda High School; ‘If You Love Someone...’, ‘50 Not Out’ and ‘This Way is Easier Dad’.
