CHENNAI: There was a time when the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association league was totally run by the family of a club secretary or Team owner. Players often used to be picked from among family, friends and relatives. The youngest member of the family would invariably be the scorer.
However, with the passage of time, cricket buffs who were passionate about the game and also employed elsewhere got an opportunity to start scoring. D Ravichandran retired a few months back as the BCCI panel scorer but continues to score in the TNCA league.
From the pre-Internet era where scoring was done manually to the current iPad one where one scores with the help of apps, he has seen it all. He has scored in the 2011 World Cup and the 2023 World Cup. His last World Cup match as an international scorer was the game between Pakistan and South Africa at Chennai.
Stepping into scoring
Sixty-five-year-old Ravichandran is a M Com graduate and has done his AICWA (Associate of Cost & Works Accountants of India) and FIII ( Fellow of Insurance Institute of India). From 1980-1985 he was in charge of circulation of a national newspaper in Chennai and later joined United India Insurance Co. He was with United India from 1985 to 2018, having joined as a clerk and retired as a Deputy Manager.
“I had an interest in scoring right from school days. I, at times, used to score when I was not in the playing XI,” recalled Ravichandran. “I took up scoring seriously when an opportunity came through late K Subramaniam (fondly known as Grand Slam Mani in the cricketing fraternity) in 1996. The first opportunity came for the team Rising Stars (I Division TNCA League) and first captain was S Madhavan (RBI), stand-in captain for R Madhavan. Since the team was relegated to II Division the following year, R Chandrasekar recommended me to India Pistons, which has been my second home for the past 27 years. TE Srinivasan, former Indian cricketer was the team’s in-charge and CS Suresh Kumar, former South Zone player was the Coach.”
Ravi had stayed loyal to India Pistons even when he got better offers from other clubs. “In the season 2001-02, the majority of players shifted from India Pistons to SICAL and there was an offer for me to shift to SICAL, which I had politely declined and remained loyal with IP till date,” said Ravi.
Not many will be aware that scores sent to reporters was done over a land line from a public booth back in the day. “In earlier days we used to call media friends (reporters) to furnish the score details over phone and for that we used to keep `1 coins handy to continue the conversation by inserting the coins into public booths.”
In the committee
Ravi’s first Ranji match as a scorer was in 1998 between Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh at Chepauk. His first Test match was between India and Australia that was held at Chennai in 1998. He has also scored Women’s World Cup, Quadrangular Women’s tournament matches that were held in Chennai. He has been part of the scoring committee that has conducted various training sessions for districts & city scorers. “I have been serving as a member of the Scorers Committee for the past 25 years,” added Ravi.
Ravi has the unique distinction of scoring for father-son duos at various levels be it First Class or the local league. “To name a few, V Sivaramakrishnan and Vidyut S; K Srikkanth and his sons Anirudha, Aditya. I have enjoyed my stint as a scorer throughout my career and I take this opportunity to thank my family, employers, friends, colleagues, fellow scorers, press and media, BCCI, TNCA, India Pistons team and management, support staff at various levels etc. who have been integral in this incredible and memorable journey of mine,” signed off Ravi.