| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||
| Bowling style | Right-arm offbreak | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Competition | Tests | ODIs | ||
| Matches | 3 | 10 | ||
| Runs scored | 28 | 136 | ||
| Batting average | 9.33 | 27.19 | ||
| 100s/50s | -/- | -/- | ||
| Top score | 22 | 41* | ||
| Balls bowled | 247 | 372 | ||
| Wickets | 1 | 16 | ||
| Bowling average | 17.00 | 19.18 | ||
| 5 wickets in innings | - | - | ||
| 10 wickets in match | - | n/a | ||
| Best bowling | 1/26 | 3/34 | ||
| Catches/stumpings | 3/- | 4/- | ||
| Source: [1], 4 February 2006 | ||||
Raghvendrarao Vijay Bharadwaj (Kannada: ರಾಘವೇಂದ್ರರಾವ್ ವಿಜಯ್ ಭಾರದ್ವಾಜ್) (born August 15, 1975, in Bangalore) is a former Indian cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler. He was a key architect of Karnataka's three Ranji Trophy triumphs in the 1990s.[1] He won the Man of the Series[2] award on his debut one day international series against South Africa in the LG Cup in Kenya in the 1999–2000 season. Bharadwaj currently coaches Karnataka in Ranji Trophy.
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Bharadwaj made his Ranji Trophy debut for Karnataka in 1994. In his first-class career spanning from 1994 to 2006, he played in 96 matches, scoring 5553 runs and grabbing 59 wickets. A slipped-disc problem that afflicted his lower back during India's tour of Australia in 2000 under Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy, undid Bharadwaj's career. Though he recovered from the injury, he not able to replicate his form from the 1998–99 domestic season when he scored 1463 runs and grabbed 21 crucial wickets to help Karnataka defeat Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji final, close on the heels of its earlier titles in the 97-98 and 95-96 seasons. Bharadwaj last played for Karnataka in the 2004–05 season. He also played for Jharkand in 2005 for the Ranji Trophy Plate League, after being overlooked by the selectors of the Karnataka team.
Vijay Bharadwaj was first called up to the Indian national team in the 1999–2000 season after an impressive season in Indian domestic cricket in which he scored more than 1000 runs. He made his ODI debut in the LG Cup in Nairobi and initially impressed with his bowling in particular. Where he got 10 wickets at an impressive average of 12.20 and also scoring 89 crucial unbeaten runs lower down the order, all through the tournament. However, poor performances in the following Test and ODI matches against New Zealand saw him dropped from the front.
He continued to produce strong performances in domestic cricket which caught the selectors' eyes and allowed him to stay within contention, but other than a 2003 tour with the India A team against England he did not get further opportunities at international level.
He retired from all forms of cricket on November 4, 2006.[1] He took up coaching after retirement and presently the coach of the Karnataka Ranji Trophy Super League squads.