OTD: Forgotten former India spinner Venkatapathy Raju was born

When we think about the great spinners who played for India, names like Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Anil Kumble, and Harbhajan Singh pop up in mind. But very few among the cricket fraternities remember or discuss Venkatapathy Raju, commonly known as V. Raju, one of the forgotten bowlers who played for Team India.

Raju was born on July 9, 1969, in Andhra Pradesh. His career path was not even, especially when he traveled outside India to play. Raju came under the spotlight during the late 80s and formed an integral bond with Rajesh Chauhan and Anil Kumble. But his career was never in the same plane, especially during the mid and late 90s.

The finger spinner's approach to offering flight to batters is considered as his positive and negative sides of bowling at the same time. Raju's daring tactics always did not work, and due to inconsistency and leaking too much run, he lost his international spot.

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His first-class cricket stats were way more attractive than the stats with India. According to records, in 177 FC matches, he claimed a total of 589 wickets, including 5 ten-wicket hauls and 31 five-wicket figures. The economy rate was just 2.29, while in ODIs, the economy rate was 4.36, which was not enough to justify his potential. 

Contrasting bowling stats for a promising spinner 

Throughout his international career, the left-arm bowler saw lots of highs and lows. Raju was probably at his best during the 1994-95 series against the West Indies, when in three tests, he claimed 20 wickets. And against Sri Lanka in Chandigarh in 1990-91, his match figures were 53.5-38-37-8. But his overall numbers in overseas conditions were far away from the best.

During his tenure, he bagged 70 wickets at home in 15 tests as compared to 22 dismissals in 12 tests on foreign soil. After a series against Australia in 1997-98, the promising cricketer gradually went behind the curtains.