Raghuram Bhat
Encyclopedia
Adwai Raghuram Bhat (born April 16, 1958, Puttur, Mysore) is a former India
n cricket
er who played in 2 Tests
in 1983.
debut in the 1979-80 season against Tamil Nadu
at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
.. He had a slow start to his career taking just one wicket on his debut game.
He soon found success at the Ranji level. In just his 6th first class game he picked up 9 wickets against Kerala
at Davangere.. In the quarterfinal against Punjab
he took 9 wickets to help Karnataka reach the semifinals.
. The 1981-82 Ranji semifinal was played between a strong Bombay
team and Karnataka
at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
. Bombay had at their disposal some of the current stars of the Indian cricket team, including Sunil Gavaskar
, Dilip Vengsarkar
, Ashok Mankad
, Sandeep Patil
, Ravi Shastri
and Balwinder Sandhu
.
Sunil Gavaskar
captaining Bombay
won the toss and decided to bat. Gavaskar opened the batting with Ghulam Parkar
and put on a 62 run opening stand. Raghuram Bhat soon got into the act and dismissed Gavaskar for 41. He then had Vengsarkar bowled for 8. A 101 run partnership was established between Ghulam Parkar and Sandeep Patil
. Raghuram Bhat got Ghulam Parkar Leg before wicket
. That bought Ashok Mankad
to the crease. Raghuram Bhat had Mankad edge the ball to Gundappa Viswanath
at slip to leave Mumbai at 184 for 5. Raghuram Bhat completed his hat-trick
by dismissing Suru Nayak
. Raguram Bhat went on to claim 3 more wickets as he ended up with his then best figures of 8 for 123. Bombay were dismissed for 271.
Karnataka batted well in their first innings. A fine century from M.Sudhakar Rao and a knock of 78 from Brijesh Patel
ensured Karnataka overhauled Bombay's first innings total. Some fine late order batting from Syed Kirmani
and Raghuram Bhat ensured Karnataka reached 470.
The pitch by then had deteriorated and was expected to help spin. Ghulam Parkar and Vengsarkar opened the batting for Bombay in the 2nd innings and put on 72. Bhat dismissed Vengsarkar and soon had Suru Nayak giving him a return catch to leave Bombay at 107 for 2.
Bhat and fellow spinner B.Vijaykrishna went through the middle order to leave Bombay at 160 for 6. Sunil Gavaskar
unusually walked to bat at number 8 and soon faced trouble from the spin of Raghuram Bhat. Gavaskar had earlier decided to bat left handed against Bhat, but was talked out of it by Bombay team manager Sharad Diwadkar. Sensing that he had no chance against Bhat, Sunil Gavaskar
decided to bat as a left-hander against him. Sunil Gavaskar survived against Bhat batting as a left-hander and against Vijaykrishna batting as a right-hander. Gavaskar batted over 60 minutes as a left-hander and ensured Bombay did not lose outright. Bombay ended up at 200 for 9. Karnataka
went through to the final based on the big first innings lead. Raghuram Bhat ended up with 13 wickets.
despite scoring 705 in the first innings. . The next Ranji season proved to be fruitful for Bhat as helped Karnataka
win the Ranji trophy
for the 3rd time, beating Bombay
on first innings lead. He took 4 wickets in the final and capped off a wonderful Ranji trophy campaign.
He played the Irani Trophy
that year and picked up 7 wickets in the game.. His performances in the season bought him into national limelight and he was selected for the upcoming series against Pakistan.
, Nagpur
. His first test wicket was Javed Miandad
. He later picked up Mudassar Nazar
's wicket as well. India drew the game and the series was shared between the 2 arch rivals.
Raghuram Bhat's next test was against the West Indies at the Green Park Stadium
in Kanpur. Bhat picked up the wickets of Clive Lloyd
and Gus Logie
. India lost the test by an innings and 83 runs. This test also marked the end of Bhat's international career as he was dropped from the Indian team.
. He retired after the 1992-93 pre-quarter final against Madhya Pradesh
was making his mark for Karnataka, Bhatt has served in many capacities - as umpire, administrator and coach. In July 2011, he was appointed as the coach of the Goa
n cricket team.
batted left handed against Raghuram Bhat in the Kannada movie Ganeshana Maduve
.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played in 2 Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
in 1983.
Domestic Career
Raghuram Bhat dominated school and junior level games. After some fine performances, he made his Ranji trophyRanji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
debut in the 1979-80 season against Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu cricket team
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Team ; , competes in the Super League of the Ranji Trophy, the top cricketing competition in India. The team finished as runners-up behind Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons establishing themselves as one of the strongest teams in the country...
at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium , located in Bangalore, Karnataka, is one of the cricket stadiums of India. Flanked by the picturesque Cubbon Park, Queen's Road, Cubbon and uptown MG Road, this four decade old stadium is situated in the heart of the city of Bangalore. Formerly known as the Karnataka...
.. He had a slow start to his career taking just one wicket on his debut game.
He soon found success at the Ranji level. In just his 6th first class game he picked up 9 wickets against Kerala
Kerala cricket team
The Kerala cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Kerala. It is in the Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first class cricket tournament in India. Kerala has produced two Indian test cricketers, Tinu Yohannan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth...
at Davangere.. In the quarterfinal against Punjab
Punjab cricket team
The Punjab cricket team is the official first-class cricket team that represents the Indian state of Punjab. They have qualified for three Ranji Trophy semi-finals in the last five seasons, and made it to the final in 2004–05 tournament, where they lost to Railways on first innings. They also play...
he took 9 wickets to help Karnataka reach the semifinals.
1981-82 Semifinal
Raghuram Bhat is chiefly remembered for the role he played in Karnataka's victory in the semifinal against BombayMumbai cricket team
The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, India's top domestic cricket competition, with 39 titles, the most recent being in 2009–10. The team's home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in...
. The 1981-82 Ranji semifinal was played between a strong Bombay
Mumbai cricket team
The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, India's top domestic cricket competition, with 39 titles, the most recent being in 2009–10. The team's home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in...
team and Karnataka
Karnataka cricket team
Karnataka cricket team is a cricket team that represents the Indian state of Karnataka in domestic first class cricket. One of the strongest teams in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group, it has produced many of the Indian cricket team's leading players throughout its existence...
at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium , located in Bangalore, Karnataka, is one of the cricket stadiums of India. Flanked by the picturesque Cubbon Park, Queen's Road, Cubbon and uptown MG Road, this four decade old stadium is situated in the heart of the city of Bangalore. Formerly known as the Karnataka...
. Bombay had at their disposal some of the current stars of the Indian cricket team, including Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
, Dilip Vengsarkar
Dilip Vengsarkar
Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar is an Indian cricketer and cricket administrator. He was one of the most stylish batsmen of his time, known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. He was also known by the nickname 'Colonel'....
, Ashok Mankad
Ashok Mankad
Ashok Vinoo Mankad was a former Indian cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he played for India in 22 Test matches....
, Sandeep Patil
Sandeep Patil
Sandeep Madhusudan Patil is a former Indian cricketer, Indian national age group cricket manager and former Kenya national team coach, who made the minnows reach the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup. He was a hard-hitting middle order batsman and an occasional medium pace bowler...
, Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri
Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri is a former Indian cricketer and captain. He was an all–rounder who batted right-handed and bowled left arm spin. His international career started when he was 18 years old and lasted for 12 years...
and Balwinder Sandhu
Balwinder Sandhu
Balwinder Singh Sandhu is a former Indian Test cricketer. He represented India in eight Test matches as a medium pace bowler who could swing the ball and was a useful batsman....
.
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
captaining Bombay
Mumbai cricket team
The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, India's top domestic cricket competition, with 39 titles, the most recent being in 2009–10. The team's home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in...
won the toss and decided to bat. Gavaskar opened the batting with Ghulam Parkar
Ghulam Parkar
Ghulam Ahmed Hasan Mohammed Parkar is a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test and 10 ODIs from 1982 to 1984....
and put on a 62 run opening stand. Raghuram Bhat soon got into the act and dismissed Gavaskar for 41. He then had Vengsarkar bowled for 8. A 101 run partnership was established between Ghulam Parkar and Sandeep Patil
Sandeep Patil
Sandeep Madhusudan Patil is a former Indian cricketer, Indian national age group cricket manager and former Kenya national team coach, who made the minnows reach the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup. He was a hard-hitting middle order batsman and an occasional medium pace bowler...
. Raghuram Bhat got Ghulam Parkar Leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
. That bought Ashok Mankad
Ashok Mankad
Ashok Vinoo Mankad was a former Indian cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he played for India in 22 Test matches....
to the crease. Raghuram Bhat had Mankad edge the ball to Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Rangnath Viswanath is a former Indian cricketer. He was one of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s. He played Test cricket for India from 1969 to 1983 making 91 appearances and scoring over 6000 runs. He also played in One Day Internationals from 1974 to 1982 including the World...
at slip to leave Mumbai at 184 for 5. Raghuram Bhat completed his hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
by dismissing Suru Nayak
Suru Nayak
Surendra Vithal Nayak is a former Indian cricketer who played in 2 Tests and 4 ODIs from 1981 to 1982....
. Raguram Bhat went on to claim 3 more wickets as he ended up with his then best figures of 8 for 123. Bombay were dismissed for 271.
Karnataka batted well in their first innings. A fine century from M.Sudhakar Rao and a knock of 78 from Brijesh Patel
Brijesh Patel
Brijesh Patel grew up in Bangalore is an Indian cricketer who played for the Indian national cricket team as a right-handed batsman from 1974 until 1979....
ensured Karnataka overhauled Bombay's first innings total. Some fine late order batting from Syed Kirmani
Syed Kirmani
Padma Sri Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani played cricket for India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper.-International career:...
and Raghuram Bhat ensured Karnataka reached 470.
The pitch by then had deteriorated and was expected to help spin. Ghulam Parkar and Vengsarkar opened the batting for Bombay in the 2nd innings and put on 72. Bhat dismissed Vengsarkar and soon had Suru Nayak giving him a return catch to leave Bombay at 107 for 2.
Bhat and fellow spinner B.Vijaykrishna went through the middle order to leave Bombay at 160 for 6. Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
unusually walked to bat at number 8 and soon faced trouble from the spin of Raghuram Bhat. Gavaskar had earlier decided to bat left handed against Bhat, but was talked out of it by Bombay team manager Sharad Diwadkar. Sensing that he had no chance against Bhat, Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
decided to bat as a left-hander against him. Sunil Gavaskar survived against Bhat batting as a left-hander and against Vijaykrishna batting as a right-hander. Gavaskar batted over 60 minutes as a left-hander and ensured Bombay did not lose outright. Bombay ended up at 200 for 9. Karnataka
Karnataka cricket team
Karnataka cricket team is a cricket team that represents the Indian state of Karnataka in domestic first class cricket. One of the strongest teams in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group, it has produced many of the Indian cricket team's leading players throughout its existence...
went through to the final based on the big first innings lead. Raghuram Bhat ended up with 13 wickets.
After the Semifinal
Karnataka lost the final to DelhiDelhi cricket team
The Delhi cricket team is one of the first-class cricket teams, that plays in India's domestic competition, the Ranji Trophy. They have won the tournament seven times and have been runners-up seven. Their latest title in 2007-08 came after a long wait of 16 years. The previous win was in the...
despite scoring 705 in the first innings. . The next Ranji season proved to be fruitful for Bhat as helped Karnataka
Karnataka cricket team
Karnataka cricket team is a cricket team that represents the Indian state of Karnataka in domestic first class cricket. One of the strongest teams in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group, it has produced many of the Indian cricket team's leading players throughout its existence...
win the Ranji trophy
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
for the 3rd time, beating Bombay
Mumbai cricket team
The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, India's top domestic cricket competition, with 39 titles, the most recent being in 2009–10. The team's home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in...
on first innings lead. He took 4 wickets in the final and capped off a wonderful Ranji trophy campaign.
He played the Irani Trophy
Irani Trophy
The Irani Cup tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970...
that year and picked up 7 wickets in the game.. His performances in the season bought him into national limelight and he was selected for the upcoming series against Pakistan.
International Career
Raghuram Bhat played his first test against Pakistan at Vidarbha Cricket Association GroundVidarbha Cricket Association Ground
The Vidharba Cricket Association Ground was a Test cricket ground in the city of Nagpur. The ground is known as the VCA Ground and belongs to the Central Zone...
, Nagpur
Nagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
. His first test wicket was Javed Miandad
Javed Miandad
Mohammad Javed Miandad Khan , popularly known as Javed Miandad , is a former Pakistani cricketer who played between 1975 and 1996. He is Pakistan's leading run scorer in Test cricket. He has served as a captain of the Pakistan national cricket team...
. He later picked up Mudassar Nazar
Mudassar Nazar
Mudassar Nazar is a former Pakistani cricketer with a career in Test cricket for Pakistan and in league cricket in Pakistan and England...
's wicket as well. India drew the game and the series was shared between the 2 arch rivals.
Raghuram Bhat's next test was against the West Indies at the Green Park Stadium
Green Park Stadium
Green Park Stadium is a 60,000 capacity floodlit multi-purpose stadium located in Kanpur, India, and the home of the Uttar Pradesh cricket team. The stadium is under the control of the Sports Department Uttar Pradesh...
in Kanpur. Bhat picked up the wickets of Clive Lloyd
Clive Lloyd
Clive Hubert Lloyd CBE AO is a former West Indies cricketer. He captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become the dominant Test-playing nation, a position that was only relinquished in the latter half of the 1990s...
and Gus Logie
Gus Logie
Augustine Lawrence Logie is a former West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago cricketer and is currently an international cricket coach....
. India lost the test by an innings and 83 runs. This test also marked the end of Bhat's international career as he was dropped from the Indian team.
Later Domestic Career
Raghuram Bhat was one of the stalwarts for Karnataka. He along with B.Vijaykrishna bore bulk of the bowling workload for Karnataka. He ended up with 343 wickets in the Ranji TrophyRanji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
. He retired after the 1992-93 pre-quarter final against Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh cricket team
The Madhya Pradesh cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is in the Plate and in elite Group of the Ranji Trophy....
After cricket
Since he retired from first-class cricket, just as a young Sunil JoshiSunil Joshi
Sunil Bandacharya Joshi is a former Indian cricketer. He is an all-rounder who bowls slow left arm spin and bats left-handed. He used to travel 40 miles to Hubli each morning for practice, and then return to his native town of Gadag in time for school...
was making his mark for Karnataka, Bhatt has served in many capacities - as umpire, administrator and coach. In July 2011, he was appointed as the coach of the Goa
Goa cricket team
The Goa cricket team has never been an overly strong team in the Ranji Trophy. Confined to the plate group, Goa bottomed the table in 2005/06 by not achieving a win in their 5 matches, losing 3 matches. In 2006/07 they again finished bottom of the plate group without a win this time losing 4...
n cricket team.
In Popular Culture
A reference is made to the incident where Sunil GavaskarSunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
batted left handed against Raghuram Bhat in the Kannada movie Ganeshana Maduve
Ganeshana Maduve
Ganeshana Maduve is a 1990 Kannada romantic comedy-drama film directed by Phani Ramachandra. It stars Anant Nag, Vinaya Prasad, Mukhyamantri Chandru, Ramesh Bhat among others...
.