Patient Muthusamy reaps his reward — big time

Senuran Muthusamy has always been very serious about cricket. When he was seven years old, he made becoming a professional cricketer a goal.

Biographies and autobiographies about cricketers were a staple, and if his father wasn’t available, then his grandmothers were roped in to play practice games in the backyard. “Both his grandmoms were outside, either hitting the ball or bowling to him,” his mother, Vani Moodley, recalled.

“One thing he used to say to his grandmas was, ‘don’t chuck the ball, you have to bowl the ball’… and, of course, they didn’t know the difference between chucking and bowling,” she laughed.

Pride, mixed with elation, bubbled to the fore as family and former coaches watched Muthusamy become only the fifth South African spinner to take a 10-wicket haul in a Test match last week against Pakistan.

“This success illustrated that it is his time, and what he had worked hard for his entire life, had built to this particular climax,” said Moodley.

Muthusamy has had to be patient. Firstly, South African cricket has, only relatively recently, begun to understand the value of spinners. Fast bowling is fused into the country’s cricket psyche, creating a culture that celebrates names like Donald, Pollock, Ntini, Steyn, Philander and Rabada.

Spinners were long viewed as second-class operators ,and it took Keshav Maharaj, a friend of Muthusamy’s, to change that thinking.

But in doing so, Muthusamy had to wait longer for his turn. In fact, he had to leave Durban, where he grew up, was schooled and first became a professional, to get out of Maharaj’s shadow. “We had a long conversation,” said KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union CEO, Heinrich Strydom.

He was always very focused, very passionate; what he is achieving now is well-deserved — Yashin Ebrahim, the Baboo Ebrahim Sports Trust Academy

“I didn’t want him to leave, but we both knew that he had to go to another province, and be the No 1 spinner. With us, we had ‘Kesh’ and Prenelan [Subrayen], so he was always the second left-arm spinner.”

Playing second fiddle to Maharaj had itself required a mental shift. At school level Muthusamy was often the best player. “He acted very professionally from when he was 15 or 16 years old,” said Matthew Savage, Muthusamy’s schools coach at Clifton College.

“He was quite mature, had a lot of self-confidence and was wise beyond his years.”

A small private institution, where anti-apartheid activist Helen Joseph once taught, Clifton strengthened Muthusamy’s broader sense of community. “There was a very strong sense of family, togetherness, unity, not only at home, but it was part of the Clifton ethos,” his mother said.

Savage and Yashin Ebrahim, who runs the Baboo Ebrahim Sports Trust Academy in Durban, where Muthusamy trained as a teen — and still visits to this day to practise or help youngsters with training — both point to Muthusamy’s humility.

“It’s what always stood out for me, how humble he was and still is,” said Savage.

Gentleman

At school, even as he stood out as the best player, Muthusamy never belittled others, said Savage, he was popular with school mates. “He was actually quite a gentleman, the other boys had massive respect for him. I can’t say enough good things about him.

“He was always very focused, very passionate; what he’s achieving now is well-deserved,” said Ebrahim.

“The commitment, the dedication and the discipline that he showed as a youngster, you know, young people these days don’t understand that — to make the kind of sacrifices Sen made to get to where he is now.”

Moodley explained how her son’s commitment stretched to how he spent the holidays. “Even on Christmas Day or New Years Day, when he’s relaxing, he’s at the gym, everyday, pilates, yoga … I would say ‘your body needs a break’,” and he’d reply: ‘Yes, but I’m a sportsman, my body needs to be fuelled.’ That gave me a sense of his focus and dedication.”

Muthusamy combined hours of practice — which included his mother recording training sessions, so he could analyse his bowling and batting — with a love for reading that would eventually go beyond cricket.

From devouring cricket books as a boy, Moodley said her son progressed to reading self-help books, and even drew inspiration from a line in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them, was an entry in Muthusamy’s matric yearbook.

“He was always a very deep [thinking] child. It doesn’t surprise me that something like that resonated with him,” said Moodley.

“I still find books around the house… I was just looking at something now that he’s been reading recently: The power of your subconscious mind by Joseph Murphy. When I look through the book, there are phrases and sentences that are underlined, highlighted, with asterisks throughout.”

That kind of worldly outlook has benefited Muthusamy and helped in another of his strongest attributes — patience.

He made his debut against India in 2019 — counting cricket’s biggest star, Virat Kohli, as a first Test wicket — but he had to wait four more years before he played another Test. Even then, he’s only played a total of six matches, either filling in when Maharaj has been injured or — as was the case in Lahore — getting a start when SA played in the subcontinent and predominantly used spinners.

In his last three Tests — one in Bangladesh, the next in Zimbabwe, and last week in Lahore — Muthusamy has taken a total of 20 wickets. Not bad for someone who started his professional career as a top order batter in KwaZulu-Natal.

“He’s been very patient, which has been very important. The fact that he hadn’t been contracted by the national team until [this year], didn’t deter him from what he wanted to achieve. For me that’s one of Sen’s most admirable characteristics,” said Moodley of his determination, focus and commitment to achieving his dream — to be a national cricketer.

She admitted that her son had offers to play elsewhere, but turned them down. “He is South African, and felt he had to stay here and represent his own country. it’s what was in his heart.”