Rajan Bala
Rajan Bala (1945 or 1946 – 9 October 2009), who used a shortened form of his full name Natarajan Balasubramaniam, was a noted Indian columnist on cricket.
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Best known as someone who toured with every Indian cricket team from 1968 to 2003, Rajan Bala was technically accomplished in cricket techniques even though he was a journalist. In 1997 Sachin Tendulkar, who was having some problems with his technique, approached him for advice.[1]
Rajan was not afraid to back a player who he felt had potential. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he decided to trust his heart and involve himself in cricket. Rajan earned the respect of many all-time great cricketers including Tiger Pataudi.[2] He also wrote many books on cricket, including biographies of Tendulkar and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.[3][4]
Rajan died in Bangalore on 9 October 2009 due to kidney failure. His last book, a memoir titled Days Well Spent, was released a month later. He was 63 years old, and was survived by his wife and two sons.[5][6]
Books
- Kiwis and Kangaroos, India, 1969 (1970)
- All the Beautiful Boys (1990)
- The Winning Hand: Biography of B. S. Chandrasekhar (1993)
- The Phenomenon: Sachin Tendulkar (1999)
- Glances at Perfection: The Story of Indian Cricket Technique (2002)
- The Covers Are Off: A Socio-Historical Study of Indian Cricket (2004)
- Days Well Spent: A Cricketing Odyssey (2009)
References
- Haresh Pandya (10 December 2009). "Willowy Words-Rajan Bala, who distinguished himself with his profound technical knowledge of the game Dec". Cricket Today. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013.
- Dinakar, S. (12 January 2010). "Vignettes of cricket and its stars". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- "Rajan Bala: Cricketers, write your own columns". sans serif. 10 October 2009.
- Wisden 2010, p. 1656.
- Clayton Murzello (10 October 2009). "Rajan Bala-Not a man of few words". MidDay.
- "Rajan Bala, a stellar cricket writer, is no more". sans serif. 9 October 2009.