Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (; born 21 April 1945), also known as Venkat, is an Indian former international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

. He was a right arm off break bowler and a lower order batter. He captained the

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and also at the first two ICC Cricket World Cups in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. He represented

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and South zone in domestic cricket while also playing for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

in English county cricket from 1973 to 1975. His international career spanned more than 18 years, the third longest for any Indian cricketer. Post his playing career, he later became an umpire on the

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elite panel and

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, standing in more than 150 international matches. He was also a selector, manager,

sports commentator In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

and a cricket columnist. Venkataraghavan holds many records in test and

first class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

. He was the second bowler since Jim Laker to take the wickets of all ten opposition batsman in a single test match when he did so against

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in March 1965 while becoming the youngest player to take a ten wicket haul in a match during the time. He is also the second highest wicket taker in first class cricket for India with 1390 wickets in 341 matches. Venkataraghavan was awarded the

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

in 1971 and the fourth highest civilian honor,

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 2003 by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. He received the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, the highest award bestowed by

BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

on a former player.

Early life and family

Venkataraghavan was born 21 April 1945 in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

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(now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

) in a Tamil Iyengar family. He studied at P.S. High School Mylapore. He did his bachelors in engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He married Ranjani and they have two sons together, Vikram and Vinay.

International career

1965-68: Test debut and early years

Venkataraghavan made his debut for the Indian team against the touring

team at his home ground in

in February 1965 at the age of 20. He took 21 wickets in four matches including 12 wickets in the fourth test at

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

to lead India to victory. He dismissed all New Zealand batters at least once in the match, becoming the second bowler ever to achieve the feat after Jim Laker in 1956. He also became the youngest cricketer to take ten wickets in a test match at the age of 19 years and 332 days which has since been broken by six cricketers including two Indians. Venkataraghavan played only three test matches in the next three years, two against

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

at home in 1966 and one against

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1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

1969-73: Middle years

Venkataraghavan made a comeback to the Indian side in the home series against

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in October–November 1969 taking 23 wickets in seven matches. Post the home season, he did not play any test matches for almost 15 months before he made a return during Indian tour of West Indies in February 1971. Venkataraghavan was the top wicket taker in the series victory with 22 wickets in five matches. He was part of the Indian tour of England that followed and was again the leading wicket taker with 13 wickets in three matches leading India to a series win.

1974-78: ODI debut and World Cups

Venkataraghavan captained the Indian test side in the second test against West Indies in December 1974. He made his ODI debut in the first match of the Indian tour of England in July 1974 at

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. Venkataraghavan was the captain of the Indian team that appeared in the first

Cricket World Cup The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial world cup for cricket in One Day International (ODI) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and consid ...

. India lost two matches with Venkataraghavan himself taking no wickets, and did not qualify for semi-finals. Post the World Cup, Venkataraghavan played in the away series against West Indies in March–April 1976 taking seven wickets in three tests. He subsequently played in the home series against New Zealand in November–December 1976 taking 11 wickets in three matches. He played a lone test match in 1977 in away series against Australia. Venkataraghavan was again the captain of the Indian side for the second consecutive World Cup in

. India again lost all three matches with Venkataraghavan himself taking no wickets.

1979-83: Captaincy and later years

Venkataraghavan played all six matches in the home series against West Indies which started in December 1979. He was the third highest wicket taker with 20 wickets in the Indian series victory. He was captain of the Indian team that toured England in July 1979. India lost the series 1-0 with Venkataraghavan himself having a low return of seven wickets in four matches. He played three matches in the home series against Australia in September–November 1979 taking six wickets in three matches in the 2-0 series victory for India. Venkataraghavan sparsely played international matches in the next four years before the Indian tour of West Indies in April 1983 in which he played his last ODI. He finished his ODI career with five wickets in 15 matches. He took ten wickets in the five test matches in the series. Venkataraghavan played his last test match against

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during the Pakistan tour of India in September 1983. He finished with 156 wickets in 57 test matches in a career spanning more than 18 years, the third longest for any Indian player behind

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

and Lala Amarnath.

Domestic career

In domestic cricket, Venkataraghavan made his debut for

in 1963-64 season and went on to represent the team for more than twenty years till 1984-85. He also played for and captained South Zone. Venkat retired from

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

in 1985. Venkataraghavan took 1390 wickets in 341 matches and was the second highest wicket taker in

for India. He also played for

in English county cricket from 1973 to 1975.

Post retirement

Venkataraghavan made his international umpiring debut in the

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

between India and England at Jaipur on 18 January 1993. He made his test umpiring debut in the same month, with the match between India and England at

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. He was part of the inaugural panel of International umpires established by

in 1994 and was part of the Elite Panel of top umpires created in 2004. He was an umpire in six Ashes tests and three World Cups in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. He was appointed to stand in a semi-final in each of the 1996 and 1999 World Cups and was the third umpire of the 1999 Cricket World Cup final between Australia and Pakistan at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. He also served as a

in five tests and eight ODIs, along with serving as a selector, manager,

and a cricket columnist.

Playing style

Venkataraghavan was an

off spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to r ...

bowler with a highly accurate bowling. He was one of the famed Indian quartet of spin bowlers in the 1970s along with Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna). All four spinners played together in a lone match forced by injury meaning that the competition was high for one or two spots on the Indian team and hence longer breaks when a particular bowler was not favored. He was also a useful tail-end batsman and strong fielder.

Career statistics

Wickets

Venkataraghavan took 156 wickets in 57 test matches to go with 1390 wickets in 341 first class wickets.

Captaincy

Venkataraghavan captained the Indian test side in a single test against West Indies in December 1974 before being appointed as a test captain for the four test series against England in 1979. He captained Indian in seven ODIs including the first two cricket world cups in 1975 and 1979.

Umpire

Venkataraghavan was an umpire as a part of the elite panel of ICC umpires and a match referee. He took part in 78 ODIs and 79 test matches as an official.

Honors

(1971),

(2003), Government of India * C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award (2004),

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venkataraghavan, Srinivasaraghavan 1945 births Living people Indian Test cricket umpires Indian One Day International cricket umpires India One Day International cricketers India Test cricketers India Test cricket captains Indian cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Indian expatriate cricketers in England South Zone cricketers Tamil Nadu cricketers Indian Universities cricketers Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Tamil sportspeople Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Recipients of the Arjuna Award College of Engineering, Guindy alumni Cricketers from Chennai