Senuran Muthusamy with his mother, Vani Moodley, during the World Test Championship final at Lord's earlier this year. (Special arrangement)She calls him “freedom baby” because he was born in 1994, the year apartheid ended in South Africa. And on Sunday, minutes after he strode to a landmark in the land of her forefathers, Vani Moodley changed her WhatsApp profile picture to show her son, Senuran Muthusamy, celebrating.
When Senuran was approaching his hundred on the second day of the India-South Africa match at Guwahati — the first ever Test at the venue — Vani was travelling to Durban from Ghana where she had gone on a business trip. “I watched him bat till stumps yesterday, and it was around 2.30 am India time when I was on the flight out from Ghana,” says Vani, speaking to The Indian Express.
Touching down in Durban, her nerves were a mess — in contrast her “obedient and mature” son, who was a picture of serenity as he studiously pushed South Africa to a strong position in the second Test of the two-match series. His innings of 109 from 206 balls helped his team reach 489 in the first innings after being 201 for five at one stage. “I was frantically asking them to change the TV channel in the lounge,” says Vani.
South Africa’s Senuran Muthusamy celebrates after scoring a century on the second day of the second cricket test match between India and South Africa in Guwahati, India, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
She was still in a race against time when her son hit India’s premier wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav for a slog-swept six and a fine-glance for four to reach 98. But when Senuran finally punched a ball from pacer Mohammed Siraj to cover and reached his first Test hundred, the mother was in front of the screen at her Durban home.
“I was racing through the roads crazily to get home. Luckily, I made it just in time for his century,” Vani tells. Soon, the frame of her son in South African whites, celebrating the hundred, appeared on her WhatsApp profile. It also had a small note: “The first centurion at the Guwahati Stadium.”
For Vani, it was an important moment. The collective dream of an “entire village” had taken close to two decades. That was the time Senuran was 11. Born into a family that faced discrimination in the eastern port city of Durban, Senuran’s arrival coincided with a new era that broke the shackles of apartheid in South Africa.
“Our forefathers came here in the early 1900s, as indentured labour from our roots back in Vellore in Tamil Nadu,” says Vani. “My paternal grandfather was basically a stowaway on one of the ships that came to Africa. I was born in a period when apartheid was raging, and we were raised in segregated colonies. I couldn’t afford to go to university and had to work full-time to support my studies. I had the opportunity to be part of the anti-apartheid struggle as a young activist at the time.”
Vani recalls her grandfather working even on Sundays, and contributing the money to the government for building a school in the community. Senuran’s paternal grandfather Punnatambaran Muthuswamy, too, had played cricket but could not reach the top due to the curbs on people of colour. “Things changed in my son’s era. He was born into a multicultural community and had his grandfather and father to plant the seeds of cricket in him,” says Vani.
The making of Senuran started with his cricket-loving dad, who passed away when he was 11. “From the time he could stand, he was fully kitted out and basically having throwdowns with his dad. That continued until his dad passed away. I had to equip myself with cricket knowledge to keep giving him those throwdowns,” Vani recalls.
South Africa’s Senuran Muthusamy plays a shot on the second day of the second cricket test match between India and South Africa in Guwahati, India, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Those long hours helped. At 14, Senuran took his first step to become a professional cricketer. He made his First Class debut in 2013, as an allrounder who bowls left-arm spin, played his first Test in 2019 – against India in Visakhapatnam.
Sunday’s knock also marked the 31-year-old’s first Test hundred. “I would have loved to be there today and was hoping to join him if he was picked for the one-day series next month. I have been to my roots in India only twice, in 1998 with my sister and later during Senuran’s Test debut in 2019,” says Vani.
According to her, raising Senuran through his teens was not challenging. It was far from the struggles of her forefathers who fought tooth and nail in sugarcane plantations of KwaZulu-Natal to raise the first schools for the suppressed Indian community many decades ago, she says.
“He was a competitive and intelligent student and I haven’t faced the troubles other mothers may do with their teenage kids. He was in bed early every Friday night, because he had a cricket match Saturday morning,” Vani says, laughing.
While her tether to India remains intact, the mother and son couldn’t be prouder of the Protea crest on the South African jersey. “This is the only country we know. If we go to India, we stand out, we don’t feel that sense of belonging. This is where we belong, this is where we grew up. To wear the national emblem of the Proteas is such a pride and joy,” says Vani.
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