Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan

Venkataraghavan was born 21 April 1945 in Madras, Madras Presidency, British India (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) in a Tamil Iyengar family. He studied at P.S. High School Mylapore. He did his bachelors in engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He married Ranjani and they have two sons together, Vikram and Vinay. ==International career==

1965-68: Test debut and early years Venkataraghavan made his debut for the Indian team against the touring New Zealand team at his home ground in Chennai in February 1965 at the age of 20. He took 21 wickets in four matches including 12 wickets in the fourth test at Delhi to lead India to victory. He dismissed all New Zealand batters at least once in the match, becoming the second bowler ever to achieve the feat after Jim Laker in 1956. Venkataraghavan played only three test matches in the next three years, two against West Indies at home in 1966 and one against England in Birmingham in 1967. He was part of the Indian tour of England that followed and was again the leading wicket taker with 13 wickets in three matches leading India to a series win. 1974-78: ODI debut and World Cups Venkataraghavan captained the Indian test side in the second test against West Indies in December 1974. He made his ODI debut in the first match of the Indian tour of England in July 1974 at Leeds. Venkataraghavan was the captain of the Indian team that appeared in the first Cricket World Cup in 1975 in England. India lost two matches with Venkataraghavan himself taking no wickets, and did not qualify for semi-finals. Post the World Cup, Venkataraghavan played in the away series against West Indies in March–April 1976 taking seven wickets in three tests. He subsequently played in the home series against New Zealand in November–December 1976 taking 11 wickets in three matches. He played a lone test match in 1977 in away series against Australia. Venkataraghavan was again the captain of the Indian side for the second consecutive World Cup in 1979. India again lost all three matches with Venkataraghavan himself taking no wickets. He was captain of the Indian team that toured England in July 1979. India lost the series 1-0 with Venkataraghavan himself having a low return of seven wickets in four matches. He played three matches in the home series against Australia in September–November 1979 taking six wickets in three matches in the 2-0 series victory for India. He finished his ODI career with five wickets in 15 matches. He finished with 156 wickets in 57 test matches in a career spanning more than 18 years, the third longest for any Indian player behind Sachin Tendulkar and Lala Amarnath. ==Domestic career==

In domestic cricket, Venkataraghavan made his debut for Tamil Nadu in 1963-64 season and went on to represent the team for more than twenty years till 1984-85. He also played for and captained South Zone. Venkat retired from first-class cricket in 1985. Venkataraghavan took 1390 wickets in 341 matches and was the second highest wicket taker in first class cricket for India. He also played for Derbyshire in English county cricket from 1973 to 1975. ==Post retirement==

Venkataraghavan made his international umpiring debut in the One Day International between India and England at Jaipur on 18 January 1993. He made his test umpiring debut in the same month, with the match between India and England at Kolkata. He was part of the inaugural panel of International umpires established by International Cricket Council in 1994 and was part of the Elite Panel of top umpires created in 2004. He was an umpire in six Ashes tests and three World Cups in 1996, 1999 and 2003. He was appointed to stand in a semi-final in each of the 1996 and 1999 World Cups and was the third umpire of the 1999 Cricket World Cup final between Australia and Pakistan at Lord's. He also served as a match referee in five tests and eight ODIs, along with serving as a selector, manager, sports commentator and a cricket columnist. ==Playing style==

Venkataraghavan was an off spin bowler with a highly accurate bowling. He was one of the famed Indian quartet of spin bowlers in the 1970s along with Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna. All four spinners played together in a lone match forced by injury meaning that the competition was high for one or two spots on the Indian team and hence longer breaks when a particular bowler was not favored. He was also a useful tail-end batsman and strong fielder. ==Career statistics==

Wickets Venkataraghavan took 156 wickets in 57 test matches to go with 1390 wickets in 341 first class wickets. Captaincy Venkataraghavan captained the Indian test side in a single test against West Indies in December 1974 before being appointed as a test captain for the four test series against England in 1979. He captained Indian in seven ODIs including the first two cricket world cups in 1975 and 1979. Umpire Venkataraghavan was an umpire as a part of the elite panel of ICC umpires and a match referee. He took part in 78 ODIs and 79 test matches as an official. ==Honors==

• Arjuna award (1971), Government of India • Padma Shri (2003), Government of India • C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award (2004), BCCI ==See also==