Deepak Chougule is a

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 plays for the state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

cricket 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 ...

tournament of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He has also represented India in the Under-19 international tournaments. He made his debut for his state at a junior level in the Under-13 tournament held at

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in 1997. On his debut against

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, he ended up scoring 400 runs in a single day which is a junior world record for the maximum runs scored in a single day of a cricket match.

Early years

Deepak was born on 1 April 1984, in the city of

Belgaum Belgaum (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma''; also Belgaon and officially known as Belagavi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous ...

. During his early years, he was interested in playing

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, football and cricket. He even won several table tennis tournaments and played at the Karnataka State Level TT Championship. He initially started playing cricket as a bowler. He decided to shift to

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

because of a chance knock that he played for his team at Belgaum. He was in a hurry to catch a bus to participate in a table tennis tournament in Bangalore but his side was about to start batting. Seeing his urgency, the coach Mr. Feroz Shaikh asked him to

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

the innings. Deepak went on to score a big knock and helped his side to win the game. This convinced Deepak that he had more potential to play as a batsman than as a bowler and he also decided to shun table tennis in favour of cricket. He will play for Kochi in the 2011 season of the IPL.

Career

Deepak initially started playing for

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

zone in inter-zonal tournaments. In 1997, he bagged his junior cap for Karnataka when he was selected to play for the state in "

The Sportstar ''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly Sports magazine, sports magazine published in India by the publishers of ''The Hindu''. Its headquarters is in Chennai. History and profile ''Sportstar'' was established in 1978. The magazine covers interna ...

" Under-13 tournament in Chennai. In his first match against Goa, he scored an unbeaten 400 runs in a day. This was a junior world record. He represented Karnataka in the Under-16 V. Pattabhiraman Trophy and Under-19 Ghulam Ahmed Trophy tournaments. He won his junior cap for India and played a crucial role to enable India to win the Asia cup Under-17 tournament in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

in 2000. He bagged the

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

scholarship from the National Cricket Academy and was sent to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for training. He was selected to play for India in the Under-19 cricket world cup held in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the year 2002. He batted in the crucial one-down position in the World cup but India failed to progress to the finals having lost to South Africa in the semis.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chougule, Deepak 1984 births Living people Karnataka cricketers Jharkhand cricketers Indian cricketers People from Belgaum Cricketers from Karnataka