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Full name Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju
Born July 9, 1969, Alamuru, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Current age 39 years 96 days
Major teams India,Hyderabad (India)
Also known as Muscles
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
28
34
10
240
31
10.00
0
0
0
6
0
ODIs
53
16
8
32
8
4.00
67
47.76
0
0
1
0
8
0
First-class
177
206
58
1952
54
13.18
0
2
71
0
List A
124
42
22
109
22
5.45
0
0
26
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
28
51
7602
2857
93
6/12
11/125
30.72
2.25
81.7
1
5
1
ODIs
53
52
2770
2014
63
4/46
4/46
31.96
4.36
43.9
2
0
0
First-class
177
42710
16332
589
7/82
27.72
2.29
72.5
31
5
List A
124
6430
4557
152
6/39
6/39
29.98
4.25
42.3
3
1
0
Career statistics
Test debut
New Zealand v India at Christchurch, Feb 2-5, 1990 scorecard
Last Test
India v Australia at Kolkata, Mar 11-15, 2001 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut
New Zealand v India at Dunedin, Mar 1, 1990 scorecard
Last ODI
England v India at Manchester, May 26-27, 1996 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class span
1985/86 - 2004/05
List A span
1988/89 - 2003/04
Profile
Of average height and slightly built, Venkatpathy Raju has spent almost his entire career in and out of the Indian team. True to his nickname `Muscles', he is a lion hearted bowler, always in the thick of battle. Never afraid to give the ball flight, he entices the best of batsmen to commit mistakes. But there have been times when thanks to his attacking bowling approach, he has conceded far too many runs and this has not gone down well with conservative Indian selectors.
Raju came into prominence in the late 80s as a successor to Maninder Singh. A finger spinner in the classical mould, he settled down well into the side and bowled India to victory in the one-off Test against Sri Lanka in 1990-91. Along with Rajesh Chauhan and Anil Kumble, he seemed to have formed a new spin trio in the early nineties. But in the mid and late 90s, his career saw more downs than ups. However Raju always remained in contention thanks to his excellent performances around the domestic circuit. There is, however, no doubt as to which pitches are suited best to his bowling style - he has picked up 70 wickets at home in 15 Tests as compared to 22 dismissals in 12 Tests on foreign soil. Raju was probably at his best during the 1994-95 series against the West Indies, when in three Tests, he claimed 20 wickets. However since then, his appearances have been sporadic and he was a forgotten man after the 1997-98 series against Australia. Around the domestic circuit however Raju continued to be Hyderabad's bowling mainstay and played a stellar role in the side making the final in the 1999-2000 Ranji Trophy season, with a bag of 52 wickets. He finally retired from first-class cricket in December 2004.
Natarajan Sriram
