Sujith Bijjahalli Somasundar (born 2 December 1972) is a former Indian
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 str ...
er. He played domestic cricket for
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 ...
and played two
One Day Internationals for
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 ...
in 1996
Early domestic career
Somasundar got his chance on the basis of some fine performances in the domestic circuit with Karnataka. A gutsy batsman, Somasundar made his first appearance for
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
1990–91 season of the
Ranji Trophy. He played his first game against
Maharashtra in February 1991 alongside another debutante and future India teammate
Rahul Dravid. He made scores of 29 and 27 not out in the two innings. He played only one game in the
1991–92 Ranji Trophy, following season, against
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
, and returned figures of 3/15 in five overs. When no chances came his way to assure himself a permanent spot in the Karnataka side, Somasundar was backed by former India cricketer
Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath (born 12 February 1949) is a former Indian cricketer. Vishwanath was rated as one of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s. Viswanath played Test cricket for India from 1969 to 1983, making 91 appearances ...
, who was impressed by the former while they played for City Cricketers, a local club. Viswanath's pushing his case and the retirement of
Carlton Saldanha, an opening batsman for Karnataka, created a place in the side for Somasundar again.
He flowered in 1994–95 when, pushed to open the batting, he responded immediately by scoring a century against Goa. Somasundar was a key member for Karnataka during the
1995–96 Ranji Trophy
The 1995–96 Ranji Trophy was the 62nd season of the Ranji Trophy. Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu on first innings lead in the finals. For the first time, three teams in the semifinals were from the same zone - Hyderabad being the third team fr ...
season. He hit two centuries and five half centuries to play a leading role in Karnataka's triumph in the Ranji Trophy. In the final, he made 99 and 53. He aggregated 803 runs at 61.76 for the season.
International call-up
After impressive performances in the domestic tournaments, Somasundar was called up to the
Indian national team for the
Titan Cup
The Titan Cup was a triangular One Day International cricket tournament held in India between 17 October and 6 November 1996 involving South Africa, Australia and India. Although South Africa had won all its round-robin matches, it lost in the ...
, a triangular
One Day International (ODI) series that also featured South Africa and Australia. He made his debut against
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
in the first game at
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
. He only managed to score 9, before being run out by
Daryll Cullinan
Daryll John Cullinan (born 4 March 1967) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals for South Africa as a specialist batsman. He was regarded as the most gifted batsman of his generation ...
. His next ODI would be his last; playing against Australia at his home ground,
Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, Somasundar was dismissed by paceman
Glenn McGrath for 7. He was subsequently dropped from the side and was replaced by
Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...
for the rest of the games.
Later domestic career
Rejected by the national selectors, Somasundar continued to be in good form and in the 1997-98 season, aggregated 629 runs. This was followed by a fine performance the next year when he helped Karnataka to another Ranji Trophy triumph by scoring 529 runs. In the 1998 final against
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, Somasundar scored a fine 68. During the 1990s, He was part of a
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 ...
setup that contributed many players to the Indian team like
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
,
Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
,
Rahul Dravid,
Venkatesh Prasad
Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad (; born 5 August 1969), is a former Indian cricketer, Cricket Coach , Commentator who played Tests and ODIs. He made his debut in 1994. Primarily a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Prasad was noted for his bowling ...
,
David Johnson,
Dodda Ganesh
Dodda Narasiah Ganesh (; born 30 June 1973) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 4 Tests and one ODI in 1997. He was a right-arm seam bowler and useful lower-order batsman.
Ganesh failed to make an impression in his limited Test opportuni ...
and
Sunil Joshi.
In 2002, playing for
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, he scored his highest first class score of 222 against
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
. He scored over 1000 runs that season which was the highest aggregate by any batsmen that year. He turned out for
Saurashtra in the final years of his career and retired in 2007.
From November 2006 till May 2012, Sujith Somasundar worked as a Behavioural Expert & a Leadership Training Consultant for
Wipro Technologies
Wipro Limited (formerly, Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited) is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. Thierry Delaporte is serving as CEO and managing director ...
and was responsible for transforming the performance of their Business leaders and managers. From June 2012 till March 2014, he was associated with
Kerala Cricket Association
The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA; ml, കേരളാ ക്രിക്കറ്റ് അസോസിയേഷന്) is the governing body of the game of cricket in the Kerala state of the Republic of India. It is affiliated to t ...
as a head coach. In the first year as their Coach, Kerala performed exceptionally well by being the Runners-up in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy(50 Overs Format) & the Ghulam Ahmed Trophy (20 Overs Format) conducted by the BCCI.
[http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sujith-somasundar/6/619/467 ] He is also a part-time
sports psychologist having trained under Dr. Patrick Cohn, a recognized sports psychologist in the United States.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Somasunder, Sujith
Karnataka cricketers
Kerala cricketers
India One Day International cricketers
South Zone cricketers
Saurashtra cricketers
1972 births
Living people