Madras Day: 7 famous cricketers from the "Gateway of South India"

#5: Lakshmipathy Balaji

Balaji during his tenure for Kolkata Knight Riders

The right-handed medium-fast bowler made his international debut (ODI) against West Indies in 2002. With some stellar performances for Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit, he also earned a spot in the playing XI in a Test match during New Zealand's tour of India in 2003.

Balaji was instrumental in India's series victory over Pakistan in 2004. Though he had an immense ability, his fitness level was always a concern throughout his career. He was marred by a list of injuries which set him aside from international cricket for most of his career.

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#4: Subramaniam Badrinath

A heavyweight in Tamil Nadu domestic cricket

Tamil Nadu's former domestic heavyweight, Subramaniam Badrinath is considered as one of the top class cricketers to have played first-class cricket. In 145 first-class matches, Badrinath scored 10245 runs at a whopping average of 54.49 with 32 centuries.

Though his performances were tremendous in first-class cricket, he did not get enough opportunities in international cricket. Former Indian team selector Dilip Vengsarkar once claimed that picking Virat Kohli over Badrinath in the Indian squad in 2008 led to his removal as chairman of the selection committee.

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#3: Krishnamachari Srikanth

An aggressive opening batsman

During his cricketing career, the aggressive right-handed batsman was a role model for many future opening batsmen to adopt an attacking approach from the start of the match. In 145 ODI matches, Srikanth scored 4091 runs with 4 hundreds. He was the top scorer of 1983 World Cup final against West Indies.

The former captain was the first Indian player to score a half-century and pick up 5 wickets in the same match (against New Zealand in 1988). He was also the part of India's first ever 100-run partnership in ODI cricket.

Incidentally, Sachin Tendulkar made his debut in 1989 under Srikanth's captaincy.