Nov. 25: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who took over as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, was quite a cricketer in the junior levels, someone in the Mahendra Singh Dhoni mould. Understandably, cricketers in the City were beaming with joy on Thursday.

Before he shifted to a new pitch, in politics, Kiran Reddy captained Hyderabad teams in various age groups, the then-mighty Nizam College and Hyderabad Public School (Begumpet) teams and the Osmania University side in the inter-zonal Vizzy Trophy.

Among others, Kiran Reddy’s team included Mohd Azharuddin, Vivek Jaisimha, C. Sridhar, Thunga Pawan and Sunil Phillips.

Kiran, a wicketkeeper batsman, was on the verge of making it to the Ranji Trophy squad when he quit cricket in the mid-1980s.

Those who played alongside Kiran, remember him as a plucky player. “We’ve had some interesting battles on the field,” HCA president and former India player Arshad Ayub recalled.

“I used to lead OU while Kiran was captain of Nizam College, teams that were bitter rivals and almost always contested the finals, in the 80s. I remember a game where I scored a century but Nizam still won — they were a crack combination with a dynamic leader at the top,” Arshad added.

“I congratulate him on becoming the CM. He has taken over at a critical time but I’ve known him as someone who can tackle tough situations,” Arshad said.

Vivek Jaisimha, former Ranji player and son of the legendary M.L. Jaisimha, felt Kiran was a “commanding leader.”

“I watched him and played with him from my school days... he’s a passionate sportsman,” Vivek recalled.

“At school (HPS Begumpet), he was our House (Nagarjuna) captain and wanted to win everything at stake,” Vivek said, adding “He was a go-getter, and always got what he wanted.”

“At school while I was playing tennis, he got me into cricket. Later, when I joined Wesley College, he got me to Nizam via the sports quota and took me into the team. We were also on the university team for the Vizzy Trophy. I’ve learnt a lot playing under him,” Vivek said.

Former cricketer and co-opted HCA vice-president C.V. Anand, whose place Kiran took on the local cricket body committee in 2006, labelled the new CM as “a Hyderabadi to the core, 150 per cent.” “He was a dependable wicketkeeper and a late middle order batsman. Not too stylish but very effective, like Dhoni,” Anand added.

International cricketer and HCA and BCCI vice-president, N. Shivlal Yadav was overjoyed at the development. “It’s a fantastic feeling. We never ever dreamt that one of our colleagues would become the CM,” Shivlal said of his fellow HCA vice-president. Speaking about their playing days, Shivlal said Kiran came across “an attacking batsman and a safe wicketkeeper” while they were on opposing teams — Syndicate Bank and Nizam College respectively.

Another HCA vice-president and former Test player L. Venkatpathy Raju termed Kiran’s elevation “a big boost for cricket as well as sport in the state.” “We have had players who went on to become Members of Parliament — Kirti Azad, Chetan Chauhan, Azharuddin, Navjot Sidhu to name a few — but to have a cricketer as CM is surreal,” Raju added.