Chennai: The news of the death of VB Chandrasekhar, former Tamil Nadu and Goa opening batsman, national selector and charismatic coach in domestic cricket, especially of young cricketers, comes as a rude shock to cricketers and cricket lovers of Chennai, whom he entertained with his swashbuckling batting in the 1980s and nineties.

Coming from an affluent background — with his father, the late Mr Biksheswaran a successful lawyer — VB gave back to the game in great measure through his state-of-the-art cricket academy VB's Nest, and elsewhere. In his prime, he matched his opening partner K Srikkanth stroke for stroke, sometimes even surpassing Cheeka in aggression and daring.