Venugopal Rao announces retirement from all forms of cricket
Former India batsman Venugopal Rao has announced retirement from all forms of cricket. The 37-year old made his ODI debut for India in May 2005 and played for a year or so. After a celebrated domestic cricket career for Andhra Pradesh, Rao has finally decided to call time on his playing days.
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Rao made his first-class debut for Andhra in 1998-99 as a 17-year old. The right-hand batsman steadied his place in the state side with consistent performances. He finally earned his big break with a sterling performance in 2002. Playing for South Zone, Rao smashed his career-best 228 against England as the team went on to chase 501. The English attack included Simon Jones, Sajid Mehmood and James Tredwell. The innings boosted Rao’s contention in the Indian team.
India debut
In 2005, the Indian team was struggling to find a settled middle-order and Rao was one of the youngsters who earned the India cap. He impressed Greg Chappell, Indian coach at that time, with another confident knock against senior bowlers. He eventually made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in 2005 at Dambulla. The right-hander scored 38 in that game while rescuing the side from a delicate situation of 64/5.
The selectors persisted with Andhra youth for a year or so. In that period, Rao scored 218 runs in 16 matches at an average of 24.22 with one fifty. The lack of major scores costed him and he never played for the national side after May 2006.
Back to the first-class grind
Coming back to the Andhra team, Rao kept piling first-class runs for his side. In 121 first-class matches, the middle-order batsman added 7081 runs at an average of 40.93 with 17 centuries and 30 half-centuries. He played his last first-class game in October 2017. Since then, he has taken up a commentary role in Telugu. Yesterday (30th July), he decided to formally announce the retirement.
Rao also played 65 IPL matches representing Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad between 2008 and 2014 and was part of the winning Deccan Chargers team in 2009.
