Anirudha 'hurt' by nepotism claims

Srikkanth Anirudha, the batsman from Tamil Nadu, has said he was "hurt" over claims that his father, Kris Srikkanth, the BCCI's chief selector, could have had an influence over his selection into the squad for the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. Anirudha's selection had raised some eyebrows given his modest first-class record but he was in good form for the India Green team during the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy, averaging over 60 and scoring a century.

"Oh yes, it hurts," Anirudha, 24, told Hindustan Times when asked how he felt about accusations that he may have benefited from nepotism. "Three months back, it hurt a lot. At the end of the day, you have to go out there and play. He [his father] is a massive help when you come back home, on the mental side of the game. He knows what a cricketer can go through, what the expectations will be from my family, me and people around me.

"Probably the expectations are always going to be higher being his son but I have to cope with that. I have to live with it all my life."

He said he wasn't putting too much pressure on himself. "To be very honest, at one point I was so adamant I used to constantly think 'I want to make it big, I want to it big'

"But now I have realised that the bottom line is you live your life once. And if you don't enjoy it, there's no point living. Every day if you take pressure, then there's no point in it."