11 Compelling acts about Venugopal Rao

Venugopal Rao is considered by most as the one player who never really got a chance on the international stage. While boasting of flawless and eye-catching technique, Venugopal Rao has been regarded as a swashbuckler. Most experts have also described his shot making as ‘baseballesque’. In spite of his failure to make a successful transition from domestic cricket, the 34-year-old has had his moment in domestic cricket. That said, here are a few interesting facts about Venugopal Rao.

1. Birth

Yalaka Venugopal Rao was born on the 25^th of February 1982 in the coastal city of Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

2. Early cricketing career

Venugopal Rao’s career began at the early age of 10. Rao has stated that he grew up watching Sachin Tendulkar, especially when he was at his peak. However, Venugopal Rao molded his batting skills by watching the stylish VVS Laxman.

3. 228 v England A

Venugopal Rao’s best moment with the cricket bat came in the 2002/03 Duleep Trophy. For a change, the touring England side faced South Zone at Gurgaon. Having been extremely poor right through the match, the tourists set a mammoth target of 501 for victory. Enter Venugopal Rao. The knock of 228 came just 2 days before his 22^nd birthday. Centuries from Sridharan Sriram and Subramaniam Badrinath also ensured that South Zone made history with a 6 wicket win.

In the words of Sidharth Monga, “Ask Matt Prior, Simon Jones, and Sajid Mahmood, and they will tell you 500 is not a safe target in the fourth innings of a four-day match when Venugopal is around.”

4. Call up to the national side

His 228 against England made him a part of domestic cricket folklore and a certain candidate for national selection. He came into the side for the 2005 tour of Sri Lanka at the expense of Sourav Ganguly. He scored a brisk 38 on a slippery wicket at Dambulla, match that the Indians would go on to lose by 3 wickets.

5. Shades of Dravid and Robin Singh

Despite molding his shots on Laxman, Rao is said to be a cross between Rahul Dravid and Robin Singh. He is also said to be a dominant batsman on the flat tracks in India with a powerful ‘baseball’ swing.

6. Stint with U19 team

The Indian selectors took notice of Venugopal Rao during the U19 World Cup in 2000. Under the leadership of Mohammed Kaif, the Indians won the junior competition. The likes of Yuvraj Singh and Kaif himself would go on to represent the Indian senior side. It would take another 5 years for Venugopal Rao to break into the Indian side.

7. Sporadic appearances

The year 2005-06 saw the Indians play a number of series at home and overseas. With a jam-packed schedule, then Indian coach Greg Chappel introduced a rotation policy to ease the fatigue among the senior players in the side. Venugopal Rao was one of the players to be part of this rotation policy as he came in for the odd match or two.

8. The emergence of Andhra cricket

Venugopal Rao has been a major part of the side that secured qualification of Andhra Pradesh from the plate division to the Elite group of the Ranji Trophy. He has been quoted saying, I would say that ever since we were in the Elite Group, we have come a long way. We have a team that has been around for the past 2 or 3 seasons and all our players are reasonably well settled. And we are going through a stage where we have a young side.”

9. Half century against Pakistan

In spite of having a short career in the Indian team, Rao turned heads with his performance against Pakistan. He smashed an unbeaten 61 against the arch rivals at Abu Dhabi, an innings that would prove to be one of his last ion the Indian shirt. India lost the match by 6 wickets.

10. The fringes of the Indian team

With over 7000 runs in domestic cricket and the bat of Venugopal Rao as good as a magic wand, a comeback to the side isn’t entirely ruled out. He remains an integral part of the Sunrises Hyderabad in the IPL and will be hoping to make a return in the T20 format.

11. First ever ‘Super Sub’ of cricket

He was the first Indian ‘super sub’ as he made sporadic appearances in the field for most injured players.