Today’s short blog post is a retelling of events (with extra Pshaws) observed at the Lilavathi Barista last night:
Customer looking at TV during IPL match: Who is that thin, dark, scrawny commentator?
Barista (the common noun): Oh that’s Srinivasan…
Customer: Srilankan dude?
Barista: I don’t think so. I have no idea. Only that he is Srinivasan.
Customer: Must have been a spinner.
Barista: I don’t know man.
Customer: Must have been a spinner or something. Thin fellow. Why do they get these country types to commentate?
Barista: I have no idea!
Customer: Pshaw!
Barista: Pshaw indeed!
Sigh. From “Srinivasan’s” Cricinfo entry:
At 17 years, 118 days he became the youngest Indian Test player against West Indies in Antigua later that season. He was not yet 19 when he won a Test match for India with 12 for 181 runs against England at Bombay in 1984-85 – by the end of the series he had 23 wickets and was adjudged man of the series. The icing on the cake came when he was in the Indian one-day squad that won the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985 – he played a leading part in that triumph.
But thereafter it was downhill. He played one Test in Sri Lanka in 1985 and did little of note. He was an even bigger disappointment in Australia a few months later. The magic was gone and the little bowler, who seemed set to break all kinds of records, was but a shadow of what he had been 12 months before. He made a brief comeback as a member of the 1987 World Cup squad but he was not a success.
Nobody loves poor Laxman Sivaramakrishnan anymore. And here’s a link to a 1997 Panicker Rediff interview with the man on what went wrong. Click on the link at the bottom to page ahead.
p.s. That Barista guy sure knows nothing.
It’s not all bad for Siva – for instance, SET Max offered him some redemption: on the second day, the channel inexplicably displayed “Former Sri Lanka captain” underneath his name.
And while he’s an outstanding commentator in his own right, SET makes him look ten times as good as he is by juxtaposing him with their two-bit hosts.
He’s definitely better than Sidhu and his Siddhuisms. Siva was one talnet who didn’t show his full potential. Heard he got addicted to drugs and such stuff. Don’t know how true it is. Anyway glad that he has a job with Sony 🙂
I have not watched Siva play, though have heard and read that he was a one-year wonder.Hard luck on that count to the talented guy.
the Baristas of the world routinely dismiss him as a poor commen, solely due to the latter’s skin tone and build.
BUT that amateurish and prejudiced judgement cannot not camouflage the fact that he makes for a poor commentator, avg at best. All these years, I have not heard him saying anything new or interesting. Have many a time heard Siva exclaim “GREAT” to okayish innings and ordinary deliveries. What really pisses me off is his voice modulation which makes it seem as though he is intermittently surprised by the quality of play being displayed.
Lets face it, One is not at all infected with a sense of enthu on hearing Siva. Greig has that redeemin quality even tho his content was only avg.Everyone cannot be crick geeks like Ian Chappell or have a baritone voice like holding and Greig… But Siva, please dont talk as though the cricketing fare on display is of an extraordinary quality everytime u r on air, by suffixing “great” , “amazing”, “unbelievable” to proletariat quality.
@ Karthik,
I have also heard that Siva allegedly got hooked onto Ganja and drugs. dunno how far it is true…
Siva and Sadanand Viswanath, two promising players from that 1985 team who (reportedly) lost it to the good life. You should ask Prem for the real story.
J.A.P.
Well reminded, Sidin!Still remember that dark lean bowler who had probably the weirdest ball-juggling trick right before the run-up. (that cheeky juggle he did on his arm and bounced the ball over his biceps, or the lack of them, lolz)
I know this comment is not related to this post but I was just wondering whether the following would work in IPL.The teams should auction one place in the playing 11 to the public( This can be done, say 1 match per team.) People who are very rich would be ready to pay obscene amounts to be a part of the team and have their moment of fame. Thus the team owner might earn some money which may be a decent sum if the auction is publicised enough. The auction will also bring in media attention to the already hyped IPL which will do it good. Of course the quality will suffer but the entertainment value will increase. The player can be given a fixed position in batting and bowling so that any inequality can be reduced. This will add to the entertainment quotient of IPL….
can we do something bout the uniforms…
i have heard that he has his own er… *water putting ceremony* o well, methinks he sux at commentary anyhow. at least barista is better than the people who couldn’t recognise a picture of pratibha patil 😐
Sidin, I do not like Siva as commentator. I think the reason he did not get place in the team is because of his poor people skills. In a country like India, we expect good people skills even for a person like me who is cleaning floors in IT companies. So, being a cricketer requires delicate and refined people skills. Being a soft tamil, he did not have any and hence he should consider himself lucky to be a commentator: “And what a shot”. I think Srikanth is a better cricketer than Siva, I mean in the way he has people skills. Look at the way, he sniffs, and looks at the stars before he plays his stroke. Even Dhoni with his gloves cannot beat that action of Srikanth.
whatay whatay whatay comment!
I quite like LS. I also like Arun Lal. Their commentary is genuine. Very unlike Rameez and Aamir who try to match their fair-haired partners in diction and accent.
Besides, years and years of living has taught me that one need not be an operational expert to be a theroetical expert, and vice versa. One might execute terribly despite knowing theory really well. Commentators are often put down because they weren’t great cricketing achievers in their own time. Unfair. If one knows his cricket (regardless of how well he played it), one (the same one as above) can be a good commentator.
my 2.03 cents, at today’s FX Rate.
Did you know…
That his initials are SRK…
and he is often called so by his fellow commentators.
I watched LS play a Ranji Trophy match and the Benson and Hedges Series down under, and he was talent as talent can get to be and confidence as confidence can get to be. There was always an electric feeling to the proceedings, when he was handed the ball, and boy didn’t he have talent, and that hoie de vivre!
As a commentator I find L.S. to be refreshing. He voice is sharp and comments are crisp and he definitely is quiet knowledgeable about the game. I do wish he had a longer career, and he received some help when he was down during his younger playing days. He would’ve definitely proved a worthy successor to Chandrasekhar and ore entertaining too!
just a few days back me and my frnds compiled a list of similar cricketers and put it in a file “Lost Glory.xls” 😀
it had players ranging from Vijay Bhardwaj (the all rounder), noel david(cheetah), debasis mohanty(the crazy actioned oriya swing bowler), atul bedade(the one who hit sixes on crowd demand) etc etc.
tell me if you interested in the list will mail tht to u
can you please send me the lost Glory.xls
thanks
Arun
please send it to me
Sidin, how about a blog on the ‘Slap’stick comedy at our IPL? Would sure love reading a blog on that, coming from you…(or have you already done that in rediff?)
do you even begin to realize how many of us turn to your blog every time office and work gets iritating, so for the common good of mankind kindly update a little more frequently. Damn it
Sidin, Wakeup. We are waiting for the next post!
Sidin, where are you its been more than 2 weeks since you posted your last blog, dude I survive on the doses of humour you dish out here.
Looking forward to your next post man, hope everythings fine at your end.
Regards,
Vishal
Nice Post !You should use an Indian social bookmarking widget like PrachaarThis to let your users easily bookmark your blog posts on Indian bookmarking websites.
heh. reminds me of a similar incident when someone reffered to him L. Subramanium. hilarious conversation followed. where one person was talking about carnatic music and the other about leg spin…and of course “lose living and high thinking” there was no confusion till they stuck to talking about drunkennes…it later dawned on both parties much to their embarasment and our merriment.
Speaking of commentary…did anyone notice the other day, when Shrikanth said…”He picked up the ball with a couple of hands” Priceless that one!!!! 😀
At least Subramanium has a job. What about the Bangalore Test errr.. T20 team. Where will they go?
In Dhoni’s-uncensored-Pepsi-ad words, Mallya has the bat, do they have the balls?
More Mallya bashing here.
Oye! You keep doing housekeeping and I get that asterix next to your name on my blogroll and come running here and see the same old post! This is like crying wolf!!! Pshaw!!!
😀
Now that you have a column and a shiny new blog over at LivemintYou have retired from Whatay?
Disappointed reader
Are you brain dead! How long before you post your next blog?
Sidin,
Dude wassup ….. no post for a month ?? I am getting impatient now.
How about a link to an article written for some other publication !!
You should use an Indian social bookmarking widget like PrachaarThis to let your users easily bookmark your blog posts on Indian bookmarking websites.
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