Sulakshan Kashinath Kulkarni (born 15 January 1967) is a former Indian first-class

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 ...

er who played for various teams, mainly

Mumbai cricket team The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. The team's primary home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in South Mumbai. Secondary home venues include the MCA ground in Bandra Kurla Comple ...

, from 1985/86 to 2001/02. He became a cricket coach after retirement.

Playing career

Kulkarni was a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

who batted right-handed. He batted at various positions in his career including opening, and played as a specialist batsman in several matches. He made his debut for

Railways cricket team Railways cricket team (also known as the Indian Railways) is a domestic cricket team in India representing Indian Railways. The team's home ground is East Coast Railway Stadium in Bhubaneswar and Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi. The team is ...

at the age of 18, but switched to

Bombay cricket team The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. The team's primary home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in South Mumbai. Secondary home venues include the MCA ground in Bandra Kurla Comple ...

in the following season. He is best known for his 459-run opening partnership with

Wasim Jaffer Wasim Jaffer (born 16 February 1978) is an Indian retired professional cricketer. He was a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler. He is currently the highest run-scorer in Ranji Trophy cricket, surpassing Am ...

in 1996/97 against

Saurashtra cricket team Saurashtra cricket team is one of the three first-class cricket teams based in Gujarat (the others being Baroda and Gujarat) that compete in the first-class tournament Ranji Trophy and limited-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trop ...

, Mumbai's highest partnership for any wicket. He was dismissed for his personal best score of 239, while Jaffer went on to score an unbeaten triple-hundred. He played for five different Ranji teams, but 46 of his 65 first-class appearances were for Mumbai. Kulkarni announced his retirement in February 2000 at the age of 33. He then played one season for Madhya Pradesh in 2001/02.

Coaching career

Kulkarni coached Mumbai under-19s for three years before working as

Vidarbha cricket team The Vidarbha cricket team is an Indian domestic cricket team plays in the India's domestic first-class cricket competition Ranji Trophy and limited-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. It represents the Vidarbha region of east ...

's head coach for two seasons ending 2010/11. After a successful stint with Vidarbha, he was selected to coach

Central Zone cricket team The Central Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents central India in the Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy. It is a composite team of players from six first-class Indian teams from central India competing in the Ranji Tro ...

. He became head coach of

in 2011/12 and coached the team for three seasons. During his tenure the team ended as semifinalists in the

2011–12 Ranji Trophy The 2011–12 Ranji Trophy season is the 78th Ranji trophy season. It is being contested through two leagues: Super and Plate. Each division is divided into 2 groups – A and B, each team plays all the other teams from its group only once e ...

and emerged champions of the

2012–13 Ranji Trophy The 2012–13 Ranji Trophy was the 79th season of the Ranji Trophy. It was contested by 27 teams divided into three groups of nine teams each. The top three teams from Groups A and B proceeded to the quarterfinals along with the top two teams fr ...

. He has appointed as batting coach of Nepal Cricket team in 2018 for one month. In 2019, he was appointed as the Head Coach for Physically Challenged Cricket World Cup for Team India which emerged as Winners in its first historical win. He was appointed as the head coach of

Tamil Nadu cricket team The Tamil Nadu cricket team is a domestic cricket team run by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association representing the state of Tamil Nadu, India.It has been one of the most dominating teams in white ball cricket in domestic circuit The team plays in Ranj ...

in 2023.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulkarni, Sulakshan 1967 births Living people Indian cricketers Mumbai cricketers Railways cricketers Assam cricketers Vidarbha cricketers Madhya Pradesh cricketers West Zone cricketers Indian cricket coaches People from Uttara Kannada Cricketers from Karnataka