Tale of unfulfilled promise

Venugopal Rao reached his fifty with a cracking square cut off left-arm spinner Aashav Panchal of Gujarat Cricket Association here at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday. There was no customary raising of the bat and the 36-year-old continued to play with a calm head. Once an aggressive cricketer who made his India debut 12 years ago, Rao has nearly slipped into oblivion in recent times.

Rao, representing Andhra Cricket Association in the KSCA Dr (Capt) Thimmappiah Memorial Cricket tournament, arrived on the international stage with lot of promise but failed to build a lasting career with the national team. It was his unbeaten 228 for South Zone against England ‘A’ that caught the attention of the selectors in 2005 and the right-hander was picked for the tour of Sri Lanka. However, Rao was axed from the Indian ODI side a year later due to poor form.

A total of 218 runs from 16 ODIs at an average of 24.22 doesn’t do justice to a player who was a big success in domestic cricket. The Vizag man confessed he has the regret of not making full use of his talent.

“Yes, definitely, I feel I could have played more. Sometimes I still feel the regret. Somewhere along the way, I didn’t make the most of the talent I had. I can’t pinpoint one reason. Maybe I didn’t push myself. Maybe I lacked proper guidance. There were a few personal things that really hurt me. I had to overcome all that. But I can’t blame anybody. It’s your own journey,” he told DH.

Rao admitted a lot has changed in the domestic circuit ever since he made his Ranji Trophy debut as a 16-year-old here at the Chinnaswamy.

“I still remember my first game. I got out to Dodda Ganesh, caught at deep
square leg. He sledged a lot. You know how Dodda is. In those days they used to sledge a lot. I was a bit aggressive, actually. I used to give it back.  Domestic cricket has changed quite a lot especially in terms of fitness levels. Those days we were mentally tough. Today’s generation is very systematic and they receive great exposure, they work harder,” he noted.

Rao has piled 7078 runs at an average of 41.15 from 120 first class games and he believes he has a couple of years more left in him on the field. “I still have 2-3 years more. I’m feeling fresh now after a one-year break I took last year. I keep talking to youngsters like KS Bharath to work hard and make use of the facilities. I am the last person to have played for India from Andhra and it hurts,” he offered.