Vikram Vats is a freak of Nature - a prodigy - blessed with hypermobile shoulders and surreally flexible wrists. This allows him to hold the cricket ball at incredible angles and to impart wondrous spin. Playing on sun-baked patchy school greens is exciting, but for how long before Destiny directs him to the manicured magnificence of Test cricket?
We spoke with the author of Viktory, Surendar Balakrishnan, about his love of cricket, his time spent writing for B2B magazine and how he himself was inspired by other inspiring sport stories.
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Your book follows a fictional cricketer but is inspired by your days spent as an amateur player. When did your love of cricket start and what lead to you wanting to write your novel on the sport?
Cricket is a way of life in India. It permeates the mindscape and seduces you without you even noticing. I was hooked to the sport whilst playing street cricket, which is quite the nursery for almost everyone – even those that go on to play professionally. The sensation of whacking a rubber ball or tennis ball around or spinning the batter out is hard to describe. There is mention of street cricket in VIKTORY, which in fact, had an impact on the protagonist, Vikram Vats.
Anyway, I graduated from playing street cricket to what can be called as playing competitive matches on matting wickets with a proper cricket ball. And it was whilst playing in the finals of a tournament in Chennai that my teammates and I came up against a tiny mite of a boy, who we were told bowled spin. We underestimated him, to our peril – the boy mesmerised us out with his flight, dip and spin, and we lost the match and the chance of holding aloft the trophy.
It was compelling stuff to watch the boy bowl with such audacity and confidence. The memory of him bowling stayed with me for long and became the inspiration for the novel.
As a journalist, writing is a necessary aspect of your everyday life. Were there any differences when approaching the writing of your book and the writing of articles for B2B magazine?
In some ways, writing a journalistic piece or a novel is a similar process, when it comes to respecting the reader’s time, which motivates the writer to make the reading experience as interesting and fulfilling as possible.
That said, fiction allows a rare freedom of being able to give expression to your imagination. Defining the plot, the pace, the characters and their interplay was a thrilling experience – all the more so in the theatres of school-level, first class and Test cricket. It was a privilege to live a schoolboy’s dream, of being able to shape the outcome of a competitive, high-stakes match.
You’ve labelled your book as ‘escapist fiction’ using the world of cricket to entertain and enthral readers who perhaps don’t even enjoy the sport in the first place! Why did you want to write something as joyous and emotional as Viktory?
VIKTORY might be perceived as escapist fiction, but in reality, it is a compelling drama, replete with a probing delineation of cricketing techniques and tactics, which when placed in a match situation, arouse raw emotions.
The story is searingly realistic, has multiple perspectives and is populated with well-fleshed-out and believable characters in the lovable eco-systems of school-level, first class and Test cricket. Writing VIKTORY was an expression of joy, a celebration of the sport. I wanted to give readers a different dimension of experiencing match situations, with the mind-voice of the protagonist and other characters revealing the thinking behind their actions, and the moments of sheer exhilaration. That way, VIKTORY offers a rare texture of cricket.
The most inspirational sporting stories involve an underdog, someone who harnesses an unseen ability and ascends to the top – against expectation. The prodigy in your story is Vikram Vats. How did you craft Vikram’s character and who (if any) did you use as inspiration for his story?
Vikram Vats is blessed with hypermobile shoulders and freakishly flexible wrists, which allow him to do unbelievable things with the cricket ball as a bowler. I used science to craft the character, including his wrist position, pivot and point of release, but physical attributes need to be complemented by mental strength, restraint and the ability to cleverly sequence the deliveries like a chess player, to out-think the batter.
I drew inspiration for Vikram’s physical abilities from an associate of mine, who played competitive, university-level cricket in Bengaluru. His hypermobile shoulders and flexible wrists allowed him to spin the ball almost square, which I found fascinating. After that, it was just a matter of asking myself, ‘What if a bowler emerges with such physical attributes, along with unbelievable self-belief, audacity and guile?’ And the legend of Vikram was born.
Cricket is an ever-growing sport, with more competitions and an expansion into mainstream Women’s cricket. With a growing audience, do you see Vikram’s journey continuing? Or is your literary future elsewhere in a new story?
It is interesting you should ask this. I have already received feedback from some that have read the book that I ought to write a sequel. The prospect is alluring, but it is too early to decide.
Viktory is available now in paperback and on the Kindle Store.
