Yalaka Venugopal Rao

Venugopal Rao
Personal information
Full name Yalaka Venugopal Rao
Born 26 February 1982 (1982-02-26) (age 29)
Visakhapatnam, India
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm off spin
International information
National side India
ODI debut (cap 160) 30 July 2005 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI 23 May 2006 v West Indies
Domestic team information
Years Team
1998–2007 Andhra
2007–2008 Maharashtra
2008–present Rajasthan
2007–2010 Deccan Chargers
2011-present Delhi Daredevils
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA T20
Matches 16 85 114 32
Runs scored 218 5,326 3,236 489
Batting average 24.22 42.95 37.62 22.22
100s/50s 0/1 13/23 9/20 0/3
Top score 61* 228* 110* 71*
Balls bowled 0 4,685 2,935 258
Wickets – 57 51 8
Bowling average – 37.66 46.72 45.12
5 wickets in innings – 0 1 0
10 wickets in match n/a 0 n/a n/a
Best bowling – 4/34 5/20 2/23
Catches/stumpings 6/– 72/– 39/– 9/–
Source: Cricinfo, 3 August 2009

Yalaka Venugopal Rao (born February 26, 1982) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed middle order batsman and right arm off-break bowler. He is the first "super sub" in ODI cricket. He represents Andhra Pradesh in first class cricket, and Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League. Venugopal has also opened the batting for India in a one day series in Zimbabwe.He has a brother Gnaneshwar Rao who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. An elegant player in the classical mould, Rao was unable to carve out a permanent spot for himself in the Indian squad.

International career

Two days before his 22nd birthday, he shot into national contention with an unbeaten 228 for South Zone to help them chase down England A's target of 501, the fourth-highest successful first-class chase. Venugopal had earlier been part of the Indian team that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2002. Prolific run-getting in domestic matches meant he was not far from national selection. Once into the national ODI team, Venugopal has not been quite at home amid the baseballesque hitting on flat subcontinent tracks. His only half-century was a stodgy unbeaten 61 off 93 balls against Pakistan.

He consequently earned a call up to the national side for the 2005 Indian Oil Cup in July 2005, after captain Sourav Ganguly was suspended. He made sporadic appearances throughout the Indian 2005/06 season, mostly when other players were being rested under a rotation policy. He was unable to establish a position in the team, and has not played in ODIs since April 2006.

He holds a unique record of being selected as the first "super sub" of any team in ODI cricket. Anyway the idea of "super sub" is now obsolete in Cricket.

Indian Premier League

Rao was drafted into the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League in 2008. He was one of the very few successful players in the team's disastrous campaign in the inaugural Indian Premier League. He made 365 runs in 14 innings, which had 3 fifties at a strike rate of 124.57. He also hit 16 sixes and 26 fours in the tournament.

Bowling Matches Innings Runs Wickets Avg. Econ. SR 4W 5W Best Figures
IPL 2008 11 10 137 2 68.50 9.78 42.00 0 0 2/25 v Mumbai Indians
IPL 2009 13 11 122 4 30.50 8.13 22.50 0 0 2/23 v Rajasthan Royals
Batting Matches Innings Not out Runs HS Avg. BF SR 4s 6s 50s 100s
IPL 2008 11 10 2 288 71* v Kolkata Knight Riders 36.00 210 137.14 22 15 2 0
IPL 2009 13 11 2 116 32 v Kings XI Punjab 12.88 103 112.62 6 3 0 0

Source : http://www.iplt20.com
Updated : May 19, 2009,02:15 AM

External links

Deccan Chargers – current squad