The association between the Sanmar family and the Jolly Rovers Cricket Club is now entering its 50th year.

This is certainly unique in the annals of cricket history, as rare indeed would be another example of such continuous, decades-long sponsorship of a sporting institution by one family. By doing this, the late Chairman Emeritus of the Group, K.S. Narayanan, his sons N. Sankar and N. Kumar, and grandson Vijay Sankar have created a record of sorts.

The new Chennai cricket season will start in July 2015, and it was on July 29, 1996 that KSN officially adopted the Club, and made it a star-studded combination that went on to annex the First Division league title in grand style the same season. He and his successors have steadfastly supported Jolly Rovers and cricket in general ever since.

The family not merely supports one cricket team but, in fact, two teams – Alwarpet CC being the second one. It has also developed a world-class cricketing infrastructure, by maintaining the IIT-Chemplast Sanmar cricket ground, providing excellent coaching, practice and training facilities for some 30 players year after year. It can take pride in its ability to spot talent, often from humble backgrounds, and nurturing and polishing it into a winning combination. This is clearly reflected in the extraordinary number of titles Jolly Rovers has won – 62 so far.

T. Natarajan, Basil Thampi and D.T. Chandrasekar, all employees of Chemplast donning the Jolly Rovers cap, have come from humble rural backgrounds. All of them have climbed the ladder swiftly from street cricket in their villages to big league tournaments, including the Ranji tournament.

Eldest among five siblings, T. Natarajan is a son of a labourer, S. Thangarasu. “My father is a daily-wager while my mother owns a small meat shop at Chinnapampatti, a tiny hamlet about 35 km from Salem,” says Natarajan. His raw talent earned a name for himself in Chennai. “I will always be grateful to ‘Sweetie Suresh’, and Bharath Reddy ‘Sir’. For a cricketer with my background, guidance was crucial. They were always there for me,” says Natarajan. Born to unlettered parents and hailing from a village T. Natarajan has been named in the Tamil Nadu Ranji squad, having climbed the ranks in the TNCA league over the last few seasons.

The 21-year-old Basil Thampi’s journey in league cricket happened at a fast pace. Hailing from Perumbavoor, a small town about 40 km from Kochi, Kerala, he too, like Natarajan, is from a very humble background with his parents running a small condiments and catering shop. On his debut in One Day cricket for Kerala against Goa, he claimed 6 wickets for 51 runs and this earned him a place in the Kerala Ranji Squad in the 2014/15 season. Starting from tennis ball cricket about two years ago and moving on to the big stage, his rise has been rapid. Last year, Basil joined Chemplast to be a Jolly Rovers player.

Left-arm spinner D.T. Chandrasekar is from Arani village in Tiruvallur District. “My parents are daily wage labourers who don’t really have an idea of what I am doing. Despite our financial constraints, my father encouraged us (me and my elder brother) to go for our dreams,” says Chandra who has done various jobs at a stone quarry in Arani. Chandrasekar’s biggest moment came last year when he played for Alwarpet CC in the TNCA first division league, bagging 36 wickets from 10 matches. He is playing for Jolly Rovers this season. (Courtesy: Matrix, the house journal of the Sanmar Group)