Wandavasi Dorakanti Balaji Rao (born 4 March 1978) is an Indian

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

who has played one

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

and four

Twenty20 Internationals A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He also played for India in the U-19 level.

Personal life

Balaji currently resides in the Scarborough district of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He plays for the Centurions Cricket Club, a large cricket organization in Toronto.

Controversies

On 3 March 2011, in the

2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...

match between Canada and Pakistan, following an aggressive exchange between Pakistani bowler

Umar Gul Umar Gul (Urdu: , ps, عمر گل) (born 15 October 1982 ) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who is the current bowling coach of Quetta Gladiators. He played all three formats of the game as a right arm fast medium bowler for ...

, Rao, who was batting, lashed out with Hindi slurs after Pakistani fielder

Ahmed Shehzad Ahmed Shehzad ( Punjabi:احمد شہزاد; born 23 November 1991) is a Pakistani international cricketer. He is an opening batsman who made his One Day International and Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan in April 2009 against Australi ...

appeared to provoke the batsman.

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Canada One Day International cricketers Canada Twenty20 International cricketers Canadian cricketers Indian cricketers Railways cricketers Telugu people Indian emigrants to Canada Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Tamil Nadu cricketers South Zone cricketers Cricketers from Chennai {{Canada-cricket-bio-stub