Venkatapathy Raju

India|Bowler
Venkatapathy Raju
INTL CAREER: 1990 - 2001
Browse other players
Australia
All

Alphabetically sorted top ten of players who have played the most matches across formats in the last 12 months

Full Name

Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju

Born

July 09, 1969, Alamuru, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Age

54y 254d

Also Known As

Muscles

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Slow Left arm Orthodox

Playing Role

Bowler

Other

Referee

Of average height and slightly built, Venkatpathy Raju has spent almost his entire career in and out of the Indian team. True to his nickname `Muscles', he is a lion hearted bowler, always in the thick of battle. Never afraid to give the ball flight, he entices the best of batsmen to commit mistakes. But there have been times when thanks to his attacking bowling approach, he has conceded far too many runs and this has not gone down well with conservative Indian selectors.

Raju came into prominence in the late 80s as a successor to Maninder Singh. A finger spinner in the classical mould, he settled down well into the side and bowled India to victory in the one-off Test against Sri Lanka in 1990-91. Along with Rajesh Chauhan and Anil Kumble, he seemed to have formed a new spin trio in the early nineties. But in the mid and late 90s, his career saw more downs than ups. However Raju always remained in contention thanks to his excellent performances around the domestic circuit. There is, however, no doubt as to which pitches are suited best to his bowling style - he has picked up 70 wickets at home in 15 Tests as compared to 22 dismissals in 12 Tests on foreign soil. Raju was probably at his best during the 1994-95 series against the West Indies, when in three Tests, he claimed 20 wickets. However since then, his appearances have been sporadic and he was a forgotten man after the 1997-98 series against Australia. Around the domestic circuit however Raju continued to be Hyderabad's bowling mainstay and played a stellar role in the side making the final in the 1999-2000 Ranji Trophy season, with a bag of 52 wickets. He finally retired from first-class cricket in December 2004.
Natarajan Sriram

Venkatapathy Raju Career Stats

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests285176022857936/1211/12530.722.2581.7151
ODIs535227702014634/464/4631.964.3643.9200
FC177-42710163325897/82-27.722.2972.5-315
List A124-643045571526/396/3929.984.2542.3310

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests2834102403110.00--00-060
ODIs531683284.006747.76001080
FC1772065819525413.18--02--710
List A1244222109225.45--00--260
Venkatapathy Raju

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
ODI

Recent Matches of Venkatapathy Raju

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
India Snrs vs Pakistan Snr--0/5025-Feb-2007KozhikodeOTHER
Hyderabad vs UP0 & 5*0/4713-Dec-2004HyderabadFC
Hyderabad vs Baroda7 & 02/4204-Dec-2004HyderabadFC
Hyderabad vs Maharashtra1 & 5*1/1725-Nov-2004HyderabadFC
Hyderabad vs Tamil Nadu25* & 52/9007-Nov-2004ChennaiFC

Photos of Venkatapathy Raju

Venkatapathy Raju addresses players during a high performance spin camp
Venkatapathy Raju and Pubudu Dassanayake
Venkatapathy Raju, Portrait
Murali Kartik and Raju line up to bowl at the nets
The left arm spin twins Raju and Kartik pose for a photograph
Raju alights from the bus on his way to the practice session