Magnificent bowler ,team India and a junior of the Karnataka State Cricket Team.
Growing up in Bengaluru in the 1980s, Syed Kirmani was one of the great icons of Karnataka and Indian cricket, and it was a great honour for a youngster like me to share a dressing room with a legend like him. When Kiri took over as captain for the 1990-91 season, it was special to play under him.
I had heard numerous stories of his sensational glovework against the celebrated Indian spin quartet, and I had a firsthand taste of his genius in a Ranji Trophy game against Maharashtra in Pune in 1991. On an absolutely flat surface where bowling was hard work, he pulled off a magnificent leg-side stumping off my bowling to get rid of Shantanu Sugwekar. Sugwekar was one of the mainstays of the Maharashtra batting and a terrific player of spin. I felt the only way to get him out on that track was to slide one down leg, and Kiri was outstanding, moving beautifully to collect the ball and whip off the bails in a flash, even before the batter knew what was going on. That season, Kiri was in great batting form too. He was 40, but he still harboured hopes of an India comeback and was determined to press his claims. He had a great season as wicketkeeper, batter and captain, but unfortunately, his India comeback wasn’t to be.
Kiri was among the first in the side to make youngsters feel at ease and at home when they broke into the Karnataka Ranji Trophy team. He never gave you the impression that you were in the presence of a very experienced and accomplished Test cricketer. That’s the beauty of Karnataka cricket in general, where the seniors are very down to earth and chilled out, but Kiri was in a league of his own there too, like in most other aspects.
I have known him to be extremely fun-loving with a great sense of humour, and I thoroughly enjoyed our numerous trips with the Ranji Trophy team, especially the train journeys where he kept us engrossed with his numerous anecdotes during his time with the Indian team and had us in splits with his humour.
One of my abiding memories of Kiri is at the end of each of our fielding innings. In the dressing room, while waiting for his turn to bat, he would assiduously clean every single piece of his cricketing gear. He would even take off the laces from his shoes, wash them and leave them to dry. That’s why his wicketkeeping gloves were always as sparkling as his keeping itself! That was typical Kiri – with a sense of style and dash, meticulous in everything he did.
He would also carry a small bag with him full of letters from his fans. This was in the pre-social media age, long before phone messaging was a thing. Kiri would patiently answer every single letter he received and believe me, he received a lot of letters. I was touched by his simplicity and his humility, lessons that I tried to imbibe during my playing days and beyond.
When I became an administrator, Kiri was the coach at the Karnataka Cricket Academy and we had numerous interactions revolving around cricket, but not only cricket. His knowledge of the game is second to none, and I enjoyed splitting hairs with him (no pun intended!).
Kiri is a class act, ready with a smile and a good, kind word for everybody. It’s been an absolute treat, coming to know him at a personal level, and I wish him the very best in this endeavour. I am sure this will be a treat for his numerous fans. Kiri unplugged is something I can’t wait to lay my hands on!
Best wishes, Kiri, and may you keep continuing to smile and entertain.
