Venkatapathy Raju

Venkatapathy Raju
Personal information
Full name Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju
Born (1969-07-09) 9 July 1969
Alamuru, East Godavari district, India
Nickname Muscles
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox
Role Bowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 189) 2 February 1990 v New Zealand
Last Test 11 March 2001 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 75) 1 March 1990 v New Zealand
Last ODI 26 May 1996 v England
Career statistics
Competition Test ODIs FC LA
Matches 28 53 177 124
Runs scored 240 32 1952 109
Batting average 10.00 4.00 13.18 5.45
100s/50s –/– –/– -/2 –/–
Top score 31 8 54 22
Balls bowled 7602 2770 42710 6430
Wickets 93 63 589 152
Bowling average 30.72 31.96 27.72 29.98
5 wickets in innings 5 – 31 1
10 wickets in match 1 n/a 5 0
Best bowling 6/12 4/46 7/82 6/39
Catches/stumpings 6/– 8/– 71/– 26/–
Source: , 4 February 2006

Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju (born 9 July 1969 in Alamuru, East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh) 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 debut 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.

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 for 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.[1]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 a catholic convent boys school All Saints' High School and high school in Hyderabad Public School (The Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur) in Hyderabad. Indian cricketers such as Mohammad Azharuddin and Noel David have also attended the same school.

Present role

Raju is currently the vice-president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association.[2] Earlier, he was the selector for Indian Cricket Team from south zone during 2007-2008, when India won the ICC World T20 under Dhoni's captaincy. [3]

Role model status

Left arm orthodox spinner Pragyan Ojha claimed in an interview that it was Raju that inspired him to play for India.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Wisden reports of Sri Lanka's tour of India, 1990–91
  2. ↑ "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.
  3. 1 2 Raju inspires Pragyan Ojha
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