Venkatapathy Raju Birthday: This spinner lost in oblivion despite playing two world cups, named ‘muscles’

New Delhi: The career of every cricketer playing for the Indian cricket team is not long. But there are some cricketers who performed the best game in their small career and their name is taken with respect. Venkatapati Raju is one such name. Raju, with a thin-bodied Raju, was jokingly given ‘muscles’ nickname by South African all-rounder Brian McMillan.

Born in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh
Venkatapati Raju was born on 9 July 1969 in Andhra Pradesh. His full name is Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapati Raju. Raju, who was interested in cricket since childhood, made his ODI and Test debut against New Zealand in 1990.

This was an international career

Left -arm spinner Raju took 93 wickets in 28 Tests in his career and 63 wickets in 53 ODIs. Raju is known for his left hand spin bowling. But, in the first match against New Zealand, he had disturbed Kiwi bowlers with his batting.

Won Asia Cup, also played two World Cups

Batting for more than two hours, he scored 31 runs, which is his highest score of this format. Raju, who was part of the Indian team that won the Asia Cup in 1990-91, also played 1992 and 1996 ODI World Cup.

Keep going inside and out of the team
Despite not getting too much opportunities, he played domestic cricketers continuously for Andhra Pradesh. He has 589 wickets in 177 first class matches and 152 wickets in 124 List A matches. In 2004, he played his last domestic match against Uttar Pradesh.