Subramaniam Badrinath Reflects On His Short Career With No Regrets

Subramaniam Badrinath can be called as one of the unfulfilled talents of the Indian cricket team. Even though he played close to 100 games in the Indian Premier League (IPL), he only featured in eight games for India across formats. Badrinath’s first-class average of 54.5 is testament enough that he deserved more opportunities. And yet, when Subramaniam Badrinath looks back on his brief career, he has no regrets.

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The right-handed batsman featured in his only T20I back in 2011 against West Indies at Port of Spain. For his contribution of 43, which was the highest in the match, the 39-year old received the man of the match award in a winning effort. Sadly, he couldn’t play another T20 international after that. But he doesn’t recognize himself as someone who dwells in the past and thankful to have played so much T20 cricket.

The retired batsman felt that he could’ve played more Tests, which was not in his hands. Yet, when he thinks about IPL, Subramaniam Badrinath played plenty of games for Chennai Super Kings and was part of the squad, which won the tournament in 2010 and 2011. Above all, the 145-first-class veteran secured the man of the match in T20I debut, which few would bet on.

“That has been part and parcel of my life. I am not a guy who dwells much on the past. I am still thinking about what I can do right now. There’s always this talk about that I could have played more Test cricket. But it’s something which isn’t in my hand.

Whenever I held the bat, I played with the best of my ability. I gave my 100 per cent. At the end of the day, I can’t select myself. For that chance has to be there. Not in my hand. Life is a great equaliser. I played close to 120 games for Chennai Super Kings. Don’t think anybody could have actually believed I can play T20 cricket.

To play T20I for India and get man-of-the-match on debut, nobody would have bet on me to do that. So, in hindsight, that gave me a lot of satisfaction and a lot of security. I am really proud to have been able to play so much of T20 cricket.” Badrinath told India.com in an interview.

Subramaniam Badrinath picks some memorable moments from his career:

When asked the Tamil Nadu batsman to pick the most memorable moments, one of which was his Test debut. Badrinath scored 56 and 6 in the first and second innings respectively on debut against South Africa in 2010 in a losing cause. He went on to feature in another game, scoring a single.

Furthermore, a couple of IPL title wins and winning the Madhavrao Scindia award were the next two that make up his best moments. Lastly, Subramaniam Badrinath made his debut alongside current Indian captain Virat Kohli in 2008 in the same series. The 39-year old played seven ODIs, the last of which came against West Indies in 2011.

“Test debut. Playing for my country was one of the biggest dreams and the two IPL wins (2010 and 2011) are very close to my heart. Both the years I performed well for them. They were career-changing for me. In 2011, I got the Madhavrao Scindia award for the highest aggregate of runs so that is also a memorable moment. It’s not easy to score that many runs. 2008 my ODI debut. Me and Virat (Kohli) made debut in the same series.” he continued.

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