Former Kerala and Railways cricketer M Suresh Kumar passed away on Friday. The 47-year-old Railway employee was found hanging at his residence in Alappuzha.
The left-arm spinner from Alappuzha played 72 first-class matches in a career spanning 14 years. Suresh played 52 matches for Kerala and 17 for Railways in Ranji Trophy. He picked up 196 wickets and scored 1,657 runs in first-class cricket.
Suresh had 12 five-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls. He was a useful lower-order batsman and an acrobatic fielder. He notched up one hundred and seven fifties at the first-class level.
He was the architect of Kerala's maiden win over Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy at the Victoria College Ground in Palakakd in 1995. He took 12/164 (6/96 & 6/68) to bowl Kerala to a famous win.
Suresh, leg-spinner K N Ananthapadmanabhan and offie B Ramprakash fomed a potent spin trio for Kerala in the 90s.
Suresh, fondly called Umri, was a member of the Indian Under-19 team under Rahul Dravid in 1990. He played against the New Zealand U-19 team which had Stephen Fleming and Dion Nash in its ranks.
Suresh also represented South Zone and Central Zone in Duleep Trophy.
