Rakesh Chandra Shukla (4 February 1948 – 29 June 2019) was an Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er.Former India spinner Rakesh Shukla passes away
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Career

A modest debut and a number of exceptional innings marked Shukla's cricket career, which was interspersed with some robust all-round show that gave him a distinct identity among the top spinners of the country. He was a leg-spinner who loved the googly more than the traditional line of attack which he was quite adept at. At his best, on slightly helpful pitches, the ball would whizz past the off-stump after beginning the arc from outside leg. Born in Kanpur, Shukla was seven years younger than his brother Anand Shukla, another leg-break bowler and handy batsman who played domestic cricket for a long time. A study of the careers of the two brothers will reveal how close their records have been. Anand's numbers are better, but that has a lot to do with the fact that he played for

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

, which were in the weaker zones of the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

. Shukla played for Hartlepool Cricket Club in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League. He took 61 wickets and scored over 1,300 runs in 1982 to help the club win the league. While still in England, he was selected in the Indian Test team to play against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

. Shukla went wicketless in the first innings. In the second he dismissed the two highest scorers -

Roy Dias Roy Luke Dias (born 18 October 1952) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played Tests and ODIs for Sri Lanka. An elegant and stylish right-handed batsman he played 20 Test matches and became the first Sri Lankan to hit 1,000 Test runs. He p ...

(97) edged to

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

at slip after misreading a

googly In the game of cricket, a googly refers to a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is different from the normal delivery for a leg-spin bowler in that it is turning the other way. The googly is ''not'' a variation of the ...

, and

Duleep Mendis Deshamanya Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis (born 25 August 1952), known as Duleep Mendis, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the team, who captained Sri Lanka to their first Test series victory in 1985. He was primarily a special ...

(105) was bowled.Interview in Sportsworld, "I should have been on tour part to England", 6 October 1982, pp 31-33 After he quit cricket Shukla became a cricket consultant, providing coaching and guidance to young players and professionals. He was a member of the Delhi Selection Committee headed by

Chetan Chauhan Chetan Pratap Singh Chauhan (; 21 July 1947 – 16 August 2020) was a cricketer who played 40 Test matches for India. He played Ranji Trophy for Maharashtra and Delhi. He played most of his international cricket in the late 1970s and was the re ...

. He was also a popular commentator on All India Radio.

References

External links

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"Rakesh Shukla: A Ranji Trophy stalwart"
1948 births 2019 deaths India Test cricketers Indian cricketers North Zone cricketers East Zone cricketers Sportspeople from Kanpur Cricketers from Uttar Pradesh Durham cricketers Delhi cricketers Bengal cricketers Indian cricket coaches {{India-cricket-bio-1940s-stub