Long before Virender Sehwag, India boasted of an naturally aggressive opener who could spoil the party of the opposition in a matter of a few overs. An engineer by profession, Srikkanth graduated from the prestigious College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai, India. Srikkanth's batting style was both innovative and entertaining for the crowd gathered in the stadium. His approach to batting was completely in reverse to that of his partner, Sunil Gavaskar as the pair engineered some fine starts for India. Srikkanth's approach to the game was a hurricane on, but was also fraught with danger. This resulted in many a cheap dismissal and Srikkanth found himself out of favour more often than not. Making his debut at the international arena at the age of 21, Srikkanth was a stylish opening batsman gifted with a good hand eye co-ordination and some extremely quick reflexes. His attacking nature was evident during the 1983 WC finals as he top-scored for the Indians with a fine 38. He was also a prominent member of the team that won the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket in 1985. Consistency was never the watchword for Srikkanth and he altered between the sublime and the ridiculous. He was made the captain in 1989 and led India to a creditable series draw in Pakistan. He was however sacked from the team owning to poor form with the bat. He made a comeback in 1991, bur with his age, his reflexes were also slowing down. His last hurrah in international cricket was the tour of Australia and the subsequent 1992 WC. He was not selected for the South Zone team in 1993 and bid adieu from cricket at the age of 33. He was the first Indian player to score a half-century and pick up 5 wickets in an ODI. He achieved this feat against New Zealand at Vishakapatnam in 1988. Since his retirement, Srikkanth has had a successful career as the coach of India 'A'. He has also been a broadcaster and expert analyst on various TV channels. Srikkanth played 43 Tests for India, scoring 2,062 runs at an acceptable average of 29.88. His style was better suited to One Day Internationals, where he compiled a significantly better record of 146 matches for 4,091 runs at a good average of 29.01. He also bowled off spin regularly in ODIs, taking 25 wickets at a very good average of 25.64.