Krishnan Shrijith missed the presence of his late father, who passed away about three weeks ago, but the latter’s counsel clung on to him as the southpaw cracked a 125-ball century on his First-Class debut for Karnataka against Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow on Thursday.
“I would like to dedicate this hundred to my dad, who recently passed away, and my family back home,” an emotional Shrijith told Sportstar after the end of the second day’s play.
“My dad always pushed me to do the right things. He always said, ‘Work hard, regardless of whether you are in the team or not.’ That drove me to work twice as hard and hopefully we will see the result in the coming days,” he added.
Shrijith’s celebrations upon becoming the 10th Karnataka batter to score a hundred on First-Class debut were understandably subdued, but his teammates gave him a rousing ovation, nonetheless.
After all, he had pulled Karnataka out of trouble as the Mayank Agarwal-led side had been reduced to five for two in reply to UP’s 89.
“I was obviously nervous because this was the first time I was getting onto the field as a Ranji [Trophy] player. I was just looking to play the ball to its merit and luckily it came off,” Shrijith said, his thought-process as uncomplicated as his batting.
On a pitch which troubled most of the batters, including veterans Mayank and Manish Pandey, Shrijith was a contrasting image of calmness.
A solid defensive technique, a loose bottom hand that enabled risk-free run-scoring on the off-side and the ability to hold his own and even punish the short-pitched stuff augured well for Shrijith and the Karnataka team.
Coming off a blistering 51-ball century in the Maharaja T20 Trophy, Shrijith said that the tournament had helped him prepare for the next level.
“We are playing 10 to 12 games in a 15-day tournament. When it comes to Maharaja [Trophy], I think we play a lot of high-intensity games, and we play back-to-back games in different situations. It makes you mentally stronger; to adjust each and every day. You can’t think of what happened before and what is going to happen after. It teaches you a lot to be in the present and deal with the pressure at the same time,” he explained.
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Shrijith, who doesn’t like to dwell on the past or look into the future, may be the missing piece in Karnataka’s present-day jigsaw.
The State team has failed to settle on a wicketkeeper-batter since CM Gautam, who last featured for the side in First-Class cricket in 2017.
BR Sharath and Srinivas Sharath, who has moved to Tripura, are amongst those who have tried to fill in the large shoes of Gautam.
Even amidst this frantic search, Shrijith’s debut was something of an accident. He wasn’t named in the initial Ranji Trophy squad, with Sujay Sateri and Luvnith Sisodia being the designated wicketkeepers in the 16-man contingent for the first two games.
However, after Sateria’s indifferent run of scores this season and the latter’s injury, Shrijith received a surprise call-up.
“It is not easy to get into the [Karnataka] side. I was disappointed, one or two days after the list [squad] came out. But after that I got back to my basics, and I started working on my batting and keeping. I didn’t expect the call when I got it, but I was ready for when it came.
“I am pretty sure everyone that came to fill in that spot [wicketkeeper-batter] tried to grab it with both hands. Luckily for me, it came off today and hopefully I will keep my position in the team,” he said.
At 28, Shrijith’s calmness and maturity can’t exactly be termed ‘precocious’, but the long wait for a red-ball senior cap has him smacking his lips at the prospect of any gametime just as keenly as any youngster.
“I did play a lot of age-group cricket. I played all age-group State cricket and up to 23, I played every single tournament. I got runs in the U-23 State games – be it one-day or red-ball. In 2021, I made my debut in [Syed] Mushtaq Ali [Trophy] and last year, I made my debut in Vijay Hazare [Trophy]. I was just waiting for this opportunity to play red-ball [cricket]. I have just been working on it [my game], irrespective of the colour of the ball.”
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