CHENNAI: “If there was one bouncer that changed my life, that was it,” recalls iDreams Tiruppur pacer A Esakkimuthu of a contest that would end up becoming the turning point of his cricketing journey. A Bachelor of Social Work student with Urumu Dhanalakshmi Arts College, Esakkimuthu was going up against a senior batter from Bishop Heber College, Yuvaraj in a Tiruchy district league game.
“He was batting well, taking on other bowlers, but I troubled him. After the match, he called me and spoke with me. ‘Come with me, I will take care of your career,’ he promised,” he remembers. For Esakkimuthu, it was a huge leap of faith. Hailing from Kalakudi, a small village in Tirunelveli district, all Esakkimuthu had dreamt of was playing cricket. Right from the time he, a class nine student, sat in front of a television and watched franchises fight over T Natarajan in an IPL auction. He wondered if he would ever be able to replicate it.At the time, all he knew was rubber ball cricket.
When he went to an U-16 selection trial in Tirunelveli and got selected, Esakkimuthu could not continue because of his family's situation. Two years later, he was not picked in the U19 trials. Cricket became a 'veri' (a burning fire within) for him.
That is how he used to play no matter what the match was or where he was playing. Off the field, he is this quiet, soft-spoken shy youngster from a small village. On the cricket field and give him a ball in hand, Esakkimuthu will run in with all the fury he could ignite. He had watched a young R Sai Kishore go up against R Ashwin during the 2019 Tamil Nadu Premier League. He felt that is the passion you need to succeed on the field; that is the “pasi (hunger) you need to get to the highest level.
When he got a chance to play for his college in Tiruchy, he grabbed it with both hands. He joined Bishop Heber for post graduation in Library Science and started playing under Yuvaraj. That is when he got to know about another Tiruchy pacer Senthil Nathan, of Alchemy Academy 's Veeraraghavan Ramachandran and trainer Michael Anton. “I wanted to play at any cost. I didn't have money or whites or anything. They used to give me whites, gloves and the boys from Bishop and Alchemy, they still take care of me,” he says. In return, Esakkimuthu gave his everything and got selected for the SS Rajan Trophy. “I wanted to play at any cost. I bowled fast and stood out in selection and Tiruchy selected me. Regular practice and training good players around me who knew the game better than me and it helped me groom myself.”
When he got to play for Komaleeswarar CC, a side in Chennai's 3rd Division, he did not have an idea on how to take wickets on the pitches here and struggled. Next year, he had to go back to Tirunelveli after not being picked for Tiruchy. “I was hungry to prove (myself). I was adamant and I could not play without that ‘veri’. Cricket became a theera pasi (insatiable hunger). That one year, I lost everything, but they (Yuvaraj, Senthil Nathan and Michael) were with me throughout,” says Esakkimuthu.
He got selected for SS Rajan Trophy in 2024-25 season and took 14 wickets in five games. Perungalathur CC offered a chance in the third Division and this time, Esakkimuthu was ready — 23 wickets came in 11 games. He was selected for a TNCA camp in Tiruppur under S. Mahesh, and went to Mumbai with the TNCA Colts team. There has been no looking back since and he was picked by Tiruppur Tamizhans in the TNPL auction earlier this year. On his TNPL debut, earlier this week, Esakkimuthu impressed with a four-fer against Dindigul Dragons. “There is something about him,” says Tiruppur skipper Sai Kishore.
“He has a lot of heart, is very fit. He has air speed, but more than anything, he has that ‘veri’. Sort of an uninhibited courage. I played for districts and I know the flavour. He has that chutzpah and confidence to do anything that is asked of him. It is hard to hit him. He is skiddy, has a sharp bouncer, yorker is reversing and has a slower one also. (He keeps hitting the 130kphs regularly). It might sound philosophical but Essaki has seen a lot in his life. I don’t think handling this kind of pressure is too big. He has seen the pressure of life, a lot of rejection, he is seeing this as an opportunity. To have come this far he is grateful and is giving his everything. That is the space he is in. He is not overawed, he wants the limelight he wants to perform. The more he plays, he will get better,” Sai Kishore adds.
There was a time when Esakkimuthu was in awe of TNPL cricketers. To even go up and talk to them or touch their cricket kit, he would hesitate. Today, he there in the middle of everything. He is grateful for every opportunity that has come his way, but he also knows it that "veri" within that brought him this far. He might have had an off day against Salem Spartans but he will not lose it anytime soon. Expect him to run in with the same intensity and passion every time he takes the field.
