South Africa's Marco Jansen, left, bowls at net as Senuran Muthusamy, right, waits for his turn during the practice session ahead of the first test match between India and South Africa, in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo)The dreadlocked South African batsman Tony de Zorzi screamed “Sen”, and a dozen puzzled faces turned back at him. The intended recipient was Senuran Muthusamy, his teammate, his tongue-twisting first name abbreviated to “Sen”, which is a common surname in these parts too. His name, both full and crunched, has always provoked curiosity. In 2019, most of his only press conference was spent explaining the roots of his name. “My forefathers are from the south of India in Tamil Nadu, migrated several years ago,” he would start.
By the end of the interaction, he had answered every question about his Indian connection. “Do you speak Tamil?” “Do you practise Indian customs at home? “Do you still have relatives in India? Do you plan to visit them? “Do you see yourself as more Indian or South African?” He did not perform significantly well to avert their glances at his cricket either; he scored just 98 runs and grabbed two wickets in two Tests.
This time, though, he lands in the land of his forefathers, his hometown Nagapattinam, some 2000 kilometres south of the Bengal Coast, as one of South Africa’s beacons of hope in conquering India. An eleven-wicket haul in Lahore and an unbeaten 89 in Rawalpindi, feats that bagged him the man of the series laurel, have soared his stocks in the subcontinent. He is no longer a curious name dancing on the tip of the tongue to be dwelled on fleetingly, but one that could adorn the honours board.
His left-arm spin is innocuous—he is slower through the air than Keshav Maharaj and hence turns more. He patiently weaves his snares; he could log in long shifts, whenever he is asked to, which is rare though. Only four times in 12 innings has he bowled more than 15 overs in an innings. He is a compact batsman too, but often bats down the order (five times apiece at 7 and 8). In seven years, he has featured in seven Tests. It’s the pangs of being Keshav Maharaj’s contemporary and practising his trade in the fast-bowling savannahs of South Africa.
But he knows the fruits of not giving up, traits Matthew Savage saw in his early teenage years at the Clifton School small private institution, where anti-apartheid activist Helen Joseph once taught, in Durban. “He was always calm and humble, traits that made him an instant hit among his schoolmates. He was gifted, but he always worked hard to polish his talents,” Matthew tells this newspaper. His coach at the Baboo Sports Trust Academy Yashin Ebrahim remembers the evenings when he had to cajole him out of the nets so that he could go home. “There were times when he was in the academy when I would chase him home after having done four or five hours of work. He would do the same the next day,” he says.
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His cricket-tragic father ignited the fire of cricket in his heart when he was barely a toddler. His father died when he was eleven, but cricket remained in him. His mother, Vani Moodely, recollected in a chat with the Sunday Times newspaper: “He was so passionate about the game that he would even ask his grandmother to bowl at him in our backyard.” Vani recorded training sessions, and young Muthusamy would pore over the minute details of his technique.
Even festivals and celebrations did not dilute his commitment to the game. “Even on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, when he’s relaxing, he’s at the gym, every day, pilates, yoga … I would say ‘your body needs a break’,” and he’d reply: ‘Yes, but I’m a sportsman, my body needs to be fuelled.’ That gave me a sense of his focus and dedication,” she said. Savage concurs: “He was a really smart kid and knew how to prepare himself for the biggest stage. He was fiercely ambitious and driven to realise his dreams.
The non-cricket times were devoted to books. Vani once stumbled onto his notebook, where he had jotted down the famous lines from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” was an entry in Muthusamy’s matric yearbook. She was not surprised. “He was always a very deep [thinking] child. It doesn’t surprise me that something like that resonated with him. I still find books around the house. In some of the books, there are phrases and sentences that are underlined, highlighted, and with asterisks throughout,” she would say. He found time to complete his degree in media and studies, too, in case cricket forsook him.
It didn’t, planting a kiss of life on him whenever he felt his international career was drifting. And in his second tour of India, he would hope that he is more than just a curious name dancing on the tip of the tongue.
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