Ponnambath Mambally Krishnan Mohandas (31 January 1948 – 17 October 2004) was an Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played at first-class level for

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Canar ...

during the 1972–73 season. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler. Mohandas was born in Mahé, in what was then part of

French India French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''d ...

but is now a district of the Union Territory of

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

.Krishnan Mohandas
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 July 2015. He played state-level schools cricket for Kerala, which borders Mahé, in the early 1960s, but did not play for the senior team until October 1972, when he made his

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for C ...

debut against

Andhra Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

.First-class matches played by Krishnan Mohandas
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 July 2015. Mohandas's first match was the first Ranji match of the season for Kerala, and he was one of eight debutants from both sides in a game where play was possible only on two days. He opened the bowling with Mohammed Ibrahim in Andhra's only innings without taking a wicket, but when coming in as a number-eleven batsman scored 24 runs out of a 29-run last-wicket stand with Ponmanichi Mackey. In the next match, against

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. ...

, Mohandas took 3/33 to be Kerala's best bowler in the first innings, as the side slumped to a 10-wicket loss. Given only four overs against Mysore (now

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karn ...

), he went wicketless as his side was defeated within two days, and was then dropped for Kerala's final match of the season, against

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language— ...

. In October 2004, at the age of 56, Mohandas died at his

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

residence of a "massive heart attack". P. M. K. Raghunath, his younger brother, also played first-class cricket for Kerala, making his debut during the 1973–74 season. Their father, P. M. Krishnan, had had a longstanding involvement with what is now the

Kerala Cricket Association The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA; ml, കേരളാ ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ അസോസിയേഷന്‍) is the governing body of the game of cricket in the Kerala state of the Republic of India. It is affiliated to t ...

. A teammate of Mohandas in all three of his first-class appearances was his cousin, A. P. M. Gopalakrishnan, whose father, P. M. Raghavan, and uncle, P. M. Anandan (both uncles of Mohandas and his brother), each played at first-class level for Travancore-Cochin, Kerala's predecessor. Outside of cricket, the family's business was baking.The History of Bestotel & Best Bakers
– Bestotel Best Bakers. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohandas, P. M. K. 1948 births Kerala cricketers Indian cricketers People from Mahe district People of French India 2004 deaths Cricketers from Thiruvananthapuram Sportspeople from Puducherry