Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, an important member of Team India, who made his Test debut at the age of just 17, took 12 wickets against England at the age of 19 and won the title of World Champions of Cricket in 1985, was considered a prodigious talent but his career did not take off as per the expectations. It is said that Sivaramakrishnan is the biggest example of talent being wasted in Indian cricket.
His balls had flight, turn and the ability to deceive the batsman. He would force the batsman to come forward by hanging the ball in the air and then make the ball turn at the last moment. His ball which stumped Javed Miandad in the final of World Champions of Cricket is still fresh in the minds of the fans.
Sivaramakrishnan had shown such glimpses in his early days that he was considered the future of Indian cricket, but the international career of this leg spinner almost ended at the age of 21. At the age when a cricketer's career starts taking shape, Sivaramakrishnan was out of the Indian team.
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Difficult times came after a great start
Born on 31 December 1965 in Madras (now Chennai), Sivaramakrishnan made his Ranji Trophy debut at the age of 15 and created a stir by taking 7 wickets against Delhi. After this he got a chance to go on Pakistan tour with the Indian team. In the same season, he made his Test debut on 28 April 1983 against West Indies in Antigua. At that time his age was only 17 years and 118 days and he was the youngest player to play Test for India. He did not get a wicket in his debut test but the discussion about his talent continued.
Sivaramakrishnan got his real recognition in the home Test series against England in 1984-85. In the Mumbai Test, he took 6-6 wickets in both the innings. His performance at the age of just 18 surprised the cricket world. He took a total of 23 wickets in the series. For this brilliant bowling he was awarded the Player of the Series award. After this, he took 10 wickets in the World Championship of Cricket held in Australia in 1985.
He helped India win the title by taking 3 wickets in the final against Pakistan. It was during this tournament that his talent received international recognition. However, behind this shine, a period of difficulties had begun.
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Rhythm gets disturbed due to increase in height
The great batsmen of the world were dancing on the spin of Sivaramakrishnan, but why suddenly there was no edge in his balls? This question continued to bother cricket lovers for a long time. Sivaramakrishnan himself has given a technical answer to this. He recently told that between the age of 16 and 19, his height had increased by about two to two and a half inches. Despite this, his release point remained the same as before. The result was that the length of his balls started deteriorating.
Where earlier the ball used to hit correctly, it now started falling forward and the ball of good length started turning into a full toss. They did not get help in understanding and improving this technological change. During this time, he also got injured in his shoulder while fielding in Australia. According to him, proper treatment and identification of the injury could not be done on time. Technical bowling difficulties and injuries gradually affected his performance.
Sivaramakrishnan believes that if at that time an experienced person had advised him to change the release point, perhaps he could have come out of this problem, but at that time, Indian cricket did not have the technical facilities, biomechanics specialists and analysis facilities like today. He continued bowling in the same manner in the nets. Gradually, bowling full toss became his habit.
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International career put on hold
After the World Champions of Cricket tournament, Sivaramakrishnan's performance was not the same as before. The batsmen started playing with him easily and gradually his place in the Indian team started weakening. He played one Test on the Sri Lanka tour in 1985 but could not leave much of an impact. A few months later, his performance on the Australia tour was even more disappointing. It seemed as if the magic of his bowling had disappeared. The little bowler, who was said to break many records, remained a shadow of his performance just 12 months ago.
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Could not make a comeback even after becoming an all-rounder
The Sydney Test against Australia in January 1986 proved to be his last Test. After this, he got a place in the Indian team for the 1987 World Cup. He was out after playing two World Cup matches against New Zealand and Zimbabwe, after which he was not seen in Team India's jersey again. After being away from international cricket, he continued to sweat in domestic cricket but the path of returning to the Indian team became increasingly difficult for him.
He also tried to make a comeback as an all-rounder but could not succeed. By the late eighties, his batting had improved so much that he made Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy (1987–88) champions after a long gap of 33 years. It seemed that he would now make a comeback in the Indian team but soon he lost his place in the Tamil Nadu team also. After this he gradually disappeared into obscurity.
Sivaramakrishnan took a total of 26 in 9 tests for Team India. And took 15 wickets in 16 ODIs. These figures do not show the complete picture of the talent about which even stalwarts like Bishan Singh Bedi had once said great things.