Back when Test cricket's opening job meant surviving the first hour or at least the first session for the bowlers, K. Srikkanth did things his own way. He was risky, sure, and that cost him consistency.

But when the mood struck, the maverick from Tamil Nadu was simply unstoppable, treating the world's finest fast bowlers like they were club cricketers.

Abhishek Sharma has burst forth as a modern-day six-hitting behemoth, someone for whom clearing the boundary is child's play, and the margin for error is minuscule.

And we rightly praise Mark Greatbatch and Sanath Jayasuriya for changing how openers bat. But Srikkanth got there first. Long before those two left-handers and long before Abhishek, he made hitting over the top fashionable, ignoring reputations entirely, with a coolness only a rare few possess.