Venkatapathy Raju
Encyclopedia
Venkatapathy Raju came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic season. He made his Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 and One Day International debut in the tour of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. 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
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1990, but the knuckle of his left hand was broken by Courtney Walsh
Courtney Walsh
Courtney Andrew Walsh is a former international cricketer who represented the West Indies from 1984 to 2001, captaining the West Indies in 22 Test matches...

 in the match against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....

 which ended his tour.

Back home in India, he helped India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

 win the one-off Test against Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...

 in the only Test match played at the Sector 16 Stadium
Sector 16 Stadium
The Sector 16 Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chandigarh, India. It hosted its first ODI match on 27 January 1985 and its only Test match in 1990...

 in Chandigarh
Chandigarh
Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city...

. 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.

He last played a Test match against Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, where he captured the wicket of Mark Waugh
Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh AM is a former Australian cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, and made his One-Day International debut in 1988. Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game. His nickname is "Junior" as...

. Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...

, on the eve of his 100th Test remarked that Raju was the best Indian spinner among his contemporaries.

He continued playing for Hyderabad
Bhagyanagar
Bhagyanagar is a populated place in Gulbarga district, Karnataka, India....

 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
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

.

Early life

Venkatapathy Raju grew up in Hyderabad and attended a catholic convent boys school All Saints High School
All Saints High School, Hyderabad
All Saints High School is a Catholic school in Hyderabad, India, offering an education for children from pre-Kindergarten to Tenth Standard . It was founded in 1855 and is run by the...

 in Hyderabad. Indian cricketers such as Azharuddin
Azharuddin
Azharuddin may refer to:*Azhar ud-din Muhammad Azim Mirza, Azim-ush-Shan Bahadur, , son of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah*Mohammad Azharuddin, , Indian cricketer...

 and Noel David
Noel David
Noel Arthur David is a former Indian cricketer. He played domestic cricket for Hyderabad and played four One Day Internationals for India in 1997....

 have also attended the same school.

Present Role

Raju is currently the selector for Indian Cricket Team from south zone.
23 year-old left arm orthodox spinner Pragyan Ojha
Pragyan Ojha
Pragyan Prayish Ojha is an Indian cricketer. Debuting in first class cricket in 2004/05, Ojha is a left-arm spinner who has represented India at under-19 level....

claimed in an interview that it was Raju that inspired him to play for India.

External links

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