Jan. 25: Tamil Nadu batsman S. Badrinath lives his life like he plays his cricket — with a sound technique. “In a country like India, where cricket is a religion more than a sport, a cricketer can live a good life. But one must remember that to be a cricketer requires a lot of hard work, dedication and more importantly, passion for the game. The amount of hard work you put into your cricket is directly proportional to the kind of life you lead,” he said.
While he agrees that there are many young cricketers that lose sight of the plot after rising to quick fame, he says it changes from each individual to the next. “Money and fame have a funny way of changing people,” said Badri. “People tend to forget that playing cricket is not just the means to earn quick money, but an end in itself,” he added.
Badri takes the example of the iconic Sachin Tendulkar to stress on his point. “Sachin is in his 22nd year of international cricket, and still plays each match with childlike enthusiasm. Every cricketer should take inspiration from him and realise that passion for the game is everything. When it comes to me, all that matters is how I have performed and not how much I have earned,” said Badrinath, who was picked by Chennai Super Kings for $850,000 at the auction.
Badrinath, who is captaining the South Zone team in the first Duleep Trophy semifinal, is known for his correctness of technique and does attract criticism from some quarters about his relatively low strike rate of 117.92 in Twenty20 cricket, but that does not faze him. “I look at it this way — thanks to T20 cricket, I’ve learnt to play shots that I wouldn’t even have dreamt of playing five or six years ago. While it has been a lot of hard work, both physically and mentally, it certainly has been a lot of fun,” he said.
Looking ahead, Badrinath definitely rates playing Test cricket for India as his top priority. He has been a prolific scorer in domestic cricket, but hasn’t had much luck when it comes to being selected for India.
The right-hander has only played two Tests and three One-Day Internationals for India. “Selection is something that is out of my control. Right now I’m beyond having any regrets. All I can do is play at my best, and ensure I’m well equipped.”
He goes on to credit the IPL for his current attitude. “The IPL is like playing at the international level, so that makes up for not playing many internationals.”