Carnatic musicians take to a pitch of different kind

Chennai is a cricket crazy city and our musicians too share this collective passion for the sport. On Monday, a motley crowd of Carnatic and film musicians took to the YMCA grounds at Nandanam for a fun tournament. This, since 1994 when it first began, was an enduring tradition, followed religiously every year. Shashikiran K N, a Carnatic vocalist who organised the tournament this year, said that after a hectic month of concerts, it was a welcome change for the musicians to wind down. 

“Most of the musicians are avid cricket buffs and some, like Unnikrishnan and I, have played at the league level. We decided to just have a fun game, which we continued doing year after year. We had senior musicians like T. V. Gopalakrishnan come by to watch the matches. Everyone had a good time and there is a lot of camaraderie. There is a lot of serious cricket talk, running commentary peppered with jokes. If you gave away a few sixes to the opposition, you will be teased about it for the rest of the year,” laughed the musician. 

This year, there were four teams competing, including a team of cine musicians, which is a first of sorts. Vocalist P Unnikrishnan led the ‘Ragam’ team, while Chitravina artist N Ravikiran captained ‘Thalam’ and Shashikiran was the skipper of ‘Pallavi’. 

The cine musicians team was captained by singer and actor Vijay Yesudas. Giving a quick roundup of the match, Shashikiran explained, “We had a round robin format, where each team played with all the others. Based on the runrate, we had two finalists – my team Pallavi and Unni’s team Ragam. Our team finally won the tournament.” 

Carnatic vocalist Rithvik Raja, who has been playing in the tournament since 2004, said he has never missed a single edition. “You are used to seeing the musicians in formal ethnic wear and the ambience is serious. Here, you get a glimpse of a different side to them. If there is a catch or a mistake, everyone sees the funnier side of it. But extreme fights too take place on the umpire’s call. 

It is a part and parcel of the game,” said Rithvik, recalling his favourite moment when he won the Man of the Match award a few years ago, while hitting a century under the floodlights to guarantee victory for his team. Vijay Yesudas, who plays regular cricketing tournaments with his team Madras All Stars Club, said tennis ball cricket games can be tough at times. 

“We had such a good time playing with the other musicians. While participating in regular tournaments, switching to playing with tennis ball version of the game is hard! It was a fun experience,” he concluded.