About SRJ
A maverick of sorts. A fighting cricketer. A class leg-spinner and a dour bat. A shrewd captain, a caring Club Secretary, an honest individual and very fondly loved and respected as the “Pitamah” of the TNCA (Tamil Nadu Cricket Association), Shri. S R Jagannathan was a true cricketing patriot!
Shri. S R Jagannathan, a long-standing resident of Egmore, founded his cricket club Egmore Excelsiors which gained affiliation to the then Madras Cricket Association in the year 1946. The club was in “A” Division which is equivalent to the current First Division. The team had quality players which included the Rajah of Pudukkottai and his brothers. Egmore Excelsiors soon churned out cricketers of class and repute who went on to play the Ranji Trophy. S R Jagannathan, himself was fortunate to have the great A.F. Wensley as his coach. He was in the reckoning for the Ranji team and missed being in the eleven due to personal vendetta. But he saw to it that three to four of his players played Ranji. A nasty motorcycle accident in 1959 cut short his cricketing career before he could blossom.
His services were however used by TNCA as a selector and he featured in many selection committees as Chairman. Spotting talent came to him naturally. SRJ, alias Jaggu, as he was fondly called, was one of a tribe, a rare combination of Captain & Secretary of his team. He soon acquired the status of being one of the senior most members of the TNCA.
S R Jagannathan
SRJ continued to breathe cricket. As the only Member club Secretary who featured in all the three Constitution committees, he took up the role of an active Member Club Secretary, fighting for rights and benefits for all the other Member Club secretaries. Almost all the privileges currently enjoyed by Member Clubs today are as a result of his brain and contribution in Annual General Body meetings.
To bring in more awareness for the members and to spread cricket, he started a monthly magazine, aptly titled “Straight Bat” in the year 1997. The objective was to start an exclusive magazine on cricket. It was a printed copy and circulated for free amongst the TNCA members and the cricketing fraternity. The magazine had a circulation of 300 copies every month. Ably supported by his friends A.R. Sundaravaradan and R. Ramachandran (RRC), the magazine carried articles by renowned writers who were stalwarts of the journalism world: Raju Barathan, K.N. Prabhu, R. Sriman, R. Mohan and others.
Keeping with the times and to reach a larger audience, Straight Bat is now being converted into an online version with its own website.
Egmore Excelsiors has now completed 75 yrs. and is well on its way to the century mark. In honour of him, we are now launching cricketing gear in his name – “SRJ” as a limited edition so that his legacy continues in the game of cricket.
The quality of SRJ products would be a true representation of the individual that he stood for – Complete, Tough, Graceful, purposeful and enduring, ready to face any situation!
J. Parthasarathy
(Son of Shri S.R. Jagannathan)