Venkatapathy Raju

Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju, sometimes spelt Venkapathy Raju[1] (born 9 July 1969) is a former Indian cricketer. He came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic season. He made his Test and One Day International début in the tour of New Zealand. When sent in as a night-watchman in his first Test innings, he batted for more than two hours for 31 runs while six wickets fell at the other end. He was part of the Indian team in England in 1990, but the knuckle of his left hand was broken by Courtney Walsh in the match against Gloucestershire which ended his tour.

Venkatapathy Raju
Personal information
Full nameSagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju
Born (1969-07-09) 9 July 1969
Alamuru, Andhra Pradesh, India
NicknameMuscles, Lacchi
BattingRight-handed
BowlingSlow left-arm orthodox
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 189)2 February 1990 v New Zealand
Last Test11 March 2001 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 75)1 March 1990 v New Zealand
Last ODI26 May 1996 v England
Career statistics
Competition Test ODIs FC LA
Matches 28 53 177 124
Runs scored 240 32 1,952 109
Batting average 10.00 4.00 13.18 5.45
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/2 0/0
Top score 31 8 54 22
Balls bowled 7,602 2,770 42,710 6430
Wickets 93 63 589 152
Bowling average 30.72 31.96 27.72 29.98
5 wickets in innings 5 0 31 1
10 wickets in match 1 0 5 0
Best bowling 6/12 4/46 7/82 6/39
Catches/stumpings 6/– 8/– 71/– 26/–
Source: CricInfo, 4 February 2006

Back home in India, he helped India win the one-off Test against Sri Lanka in the only Test match played at the Sector 16 Stadium in Chandigarh. Raju was a last-minute selection on a wicket that afforded turn and kept low. On the second day, he ran through the Lankan middle order with a spell of 5 wickets for two runs in 39 balls. He took one more wicket on the next day to finish with 6 for 12 in 17.5 overs, four of the batsmen failed to score. His match figures of 8 for 37 in 53 overs won him the only man of the match award of his international career.[2] He has played two World Cups for India in 1992 and 1996.

He last played a Test match against Australia in Calcutta, where he captured the wicket of Mark Waugh.

He continued playing for Hyderabad for many years, making the final of the 1999–2000 Ranji Trophy. He retired from first-class cricket in December 2004, after a domestic match against Uttar Pradesh.

Early life

Venkatapathy Raju grew up in Hyderabad and attended The Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur in Hyderabad.

Present role

Raju was the vice president of Hyderabad Cricket Association.[3] Earlier, he was the selector for Indian Cricket Team from the south zone during 2007-2008, when India won the ICC World T20 under Dhoni's captaincy. Currently working as a commentator for Hotstar Telugu premium channel for CWC2019.[4]

Role model status

Left-arm orthodox spinner Pragyan Ojha claimed in an interview that it was Raju that inspired him to play for India.[4]

References
  1. Vijay Lokapally (3 November 1993). "India in Sri Lanka, 1993-94 - Sri Lanka". Sportstar. Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  2. Wisden reports of Sri Lanka's tour of India, 1990–91
  3. "Venkatapathy Raju: The man who changed his fortunes by switching over from a right-arm off-spinner to a left-arm spinner!". Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  4. Raju inspires Pragyan Ojha
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