Shahrukh Khan, a star namesake who wants to finish it like Dhoni
With retentions done and IPL teams set for the mega auctions, this Tamil Nadu big hitter could spark off a bidding battle
NEW DELHI: A hazy Monday afternoon and the Feroz Shah Kotla was deserted. Perhaps not an ideal backdrop, but M Shahrukh Khan didn’t seem to mind. It was the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament final against Karnataka and the equation for Tamil Nadu had boiled down to five runs off the last ball. Standing deep in his crease, Shahrukh gathered himself and dispatched a length ball on the leg-stump from left-arm seamer Prateek Jain soaring over square-leg for a six to the unbridled delight of the TN players.
That grandstand finish on November 22 would seamlessly fit into a movie script, apt for one named after a Bollywood superstar on the exhortation of his mother’s cousins. The timing of the knock was fitting, ahead of the mega IPL auction likely to be held in January.
Acquired for ₹5.25 crore by Punjab Kings last season after a couple of noteworthy whiteball seasons for TN, the 26-year-old’s latest display—a sparkling 33* off 15 balls— looks certain to ignite another fierce bidding war.
Shortly after Shahrukh’s pyrotechnics, Chennai Super Kings shared a snap on their Twitter account of MS Dhoni catching the final stages of the game. What he saw must have pleased the ace finisher, for the method behind Shahrukh’s ‘madness’ was right out of Dhoni’s manual.
Taking it deep
“Whenever I am in a run chase, I just take it as deep as possible. I have the confidence that I can get 15-20 runs in one over. Until then, there is no panic. Only when say 18 are needed off 3 balls, then it is quite difficult. When the bowler is in the firing zone at the death, he will make an error and I can cash in,” says Shahrukh.
His mindset might seemingly border on arrogance, but such an unflinching belief in ability is essential for anyone performing that finishing role. During a brief chat Dhoni had with him at IPL this year, he stressed on that aspect.
Shahrukh hung on to Dhoni’s every word given his reverence for the latter. “I saw that photo of Dhoni watching the match. I’ve always looked up to him, especially because of the way he carries himself on and off the field. He always tries to take the game deep. I have tried to take a leaf out of his book. I am nobody compared to him, but I try to keep learning from him. When we spoke, he just asked me to keep doing what I do. He told me that I am the only person who knows what is running in my head. He wanted me to just back my instincts.”
Shahrukh made his List A and T20 debuts for Tamil Nadu in 2014 as an 18-year-old, but until a couple of years ago, those finishing instincts weren’t that obvious. While he has always been a clean striker—aided by his long reach and gym-buffed forearms— inconsistency and a lack of role clarity had largely consigned him to the fringes of the TN set-up.
The turning point came in the opening game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament in 2019-20. Having been handed the No. 6 slot, Shahrukh walked in with 100 needed against Rajasthan and finished with an effortless 48* in 39 balls with Dinesh Karthik. “That was the first time the finisher’s role was assigned to me. Then on, I started thinking how I can do it best and started cultivating that mindset of a finisher. It took time to evolve.”
He has seldom let the team down since. What, though, prompted the TN think tank to back Shahrukh in the first place?
“When you play the role of a finisher, you have to face the fast bowlers the majority of the time. We felt he has the range and power to hit the fast bowlers. Before 2019-20, he was well prepared and his striking ability had improved,” says TN assistant coach R Prasanna, a long-time mentor of Shahrukh. “He was snubbed for the 2019 IPL. We had a few conversations at the time on what kind of work he needed to put in. He took the disappointment in his stride. He was comfortable against pacers, but I told him to improve his game against spin. He needed to become a complete player, and not (be) onedimensional.”
While towering hits in a pulsating finish garner eyeballs, an under-appreciated facet of an able finisher is the ability to keep dot balls to a minimum. Shahrukh ticks that box. Boundary-hitting alone can’t fetch strike-rates of 110.75 and 136.4 in List A and T20 cricket respectively.
“At the nets, I try and work on taking singles. Suppose I go in to bat in the middle overs, I need to take singles to start with. Six-hitting is a totally different segment of practice. My practice depends on my mindset before a game, whether I need to refine the ability to take singles or do range hitting,” says Shahrukh.
Prasanna, a former TN captain, was Shahrukh’s first captain in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) league, when he was just 15. “He had the X-factor right from that time though consistency wasn’t always there… His ability to rotate strike now is a big strength,” he says.
Another attribute of Shahrukh
is calmness under pressure. In the Mushtaq Ali final, coming in at 95/4 chasing 152, he was compelled to do most of the scoring with the lower-order and contend with not always getting the strike. He was never flustered.
“When he started out, he used to feel the pressure. Once the sense of belonging came, he became calmer. Now he feels he can pull off even 60 off 4 overs. There will always be 2-3 dot balls. It is important to think with a cool head at those junctures,” Prasanna says.
The initiation
The big-hitter—he also bowls off-spin—had for long been earmarked in Chennai circles as one brimming with potential. While the attention may have been initially steered towards his famous name—interestingly he is a Salman Khan fan— his cricketing aptitude becomes clear once you watch him bat. Even in his early teens, he was rubbing shoulders with senior pros in Chennai league cricket.
Early interest in the game was sparked by his father Masood, a former TNCA second-division cricketer who would take Shahrukh along to the nets. “I used to go with my father to the ground for his training sessions on Sundays. I started going to an academy and playing with the red leather ball from the time I was six,” Shahrukh says.
In 2012, while in the 12th standard, he took part in the inaugural Junior CSK tournament, finishing as the tournament’s most valuable player. “The best players were selected for a camp. CSK coach (Stephen) Fleming came and was apparently impressed with the way I was playing. That is what I heard. Mike Hussey and Faf du Plessis were also present,” Shahrukh recollects.
Still, the early impression he may have given was of a casual approach to the game, but Prasanna points to a great attitude shift. “He has interests outside of cricket. He likes to dress well and enjoys watching basketball.”
These other interests help him switch off from time to time.
“If I finish one game, everybody will praise me. If I don’t, they will be critical. That’s how general life is,” says Shahrukh. “I don’t care about what people say. You are bound to have more failures than successes as a finisher. It is a tough job to do, but I love that pressure.”