Hrishikesh Hemant Kanitkar (; born 14 November 1974) is a former 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, who played tests and ODIs. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler.Hrishikesh Kanitkar on Cricinfo
/ref> When he retired in 2015, he was one of only three batsmen to have scored 8000-plus runs in 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 ...

and also the only captain in the Ranji Trophy's history to lift the Elite and Plate league titles.

Domestic career

He made his first-class debut against the

Sanjay Manjrekar Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar (born 12 July 1965) is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He played international cricket for India from 1987 until 1996 as a right-handed middle order batsman. Domestic career Manjrekar was born in Man ...

led

Mumbai cricket team The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. The team's primary home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in South Mumbai. Secondary home venues include the MCA ground in Bandra Kurla Complex ...

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, which was drawn in the 1994–95 Ranji Trophy. He scored prolifically for the

Maharashtra cricket team The Maharashtra cricket team is a domestic cricket team that represents Maharashtra state in domestic cricket of India. It is govern by Maharashtra Cricket Association. It plays its home matches at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in P ...

in the

and brought himself into contention for national selection. Although off the international scene for quite some time, Kanitkar joined the

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for the 2006 season. During this season he enjoyed the English conditions, scoring over 1000 runs throughout the season with an average of 76. Kanitkar played for the

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

Ranji Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as M ...

team as a senior player.Ranji Trophy Guest Players
In

2010-11 Ranji Trophy 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...

season, he captained the Rajasthan Team in the Ranji Trophy and led them to their maiden Ranji Trophy triumph after defeating

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in the finals. In December 2012, he became the 27th cricketer to play 100

matches. In July 2015 Kanitkar announced his retirement from cricket.

International career

He is best remembered for hitting a four when India required 3 runs to win from 2 balls in the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup final at

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

, against

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in fading light, to complete the Indian victory. He played only a few ODIs and scored only one half-century in the format (which came in his third ODI innings against the

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). He only had a brief international test career in which he played in two tests in 1999/00 both against

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

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and

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. He scored 11 and 45 in a

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Test at

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as the

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lost by 180 runs. In his second Test, Kanitkar scored 10 and 8 as India was defeated by an innings and 141 runs and Kanitkar never played Test match again.

Coaching career

In 2011, Kanitkar was appointed as an assistant coach of

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but walked out of the contract even before the IPL season began. This was due to disputes with the owners. Kanitkar was named as head coach of the

Goa cricket team The Goa cricket team is first-class cricket team based in Goa, India, has competed in the Ranji Trophy since the 1985–86 season. Playing history Goa lost all five matches in their first season, and did not win until 1996–97, in their 56th ...

for

2015–16 Ranji Trophy The 2015–16 Ranji Trophy was the 82nd season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It was contested by 27 teams divided into three groups of nine teams each. The top three teams from Groups A and B advanced ...

season with a one-year contract. Kanitkar then became the head coach of the

Tamil Nadu cricket team The Tamil Nadu cricket team is a domestic cricket team run by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association representing the state of Tamil Nadu, India.It has been one of the most dominating teams in white ball cricket in domestic circuit The team plays in R ...

from 2016 - 2019. He excelled as a coach for Tamil Nadu and was credited with turning around the fortunes of the team. Along with Lakshmipati Balaji, as the full-time bowling coach, Kanitkar was credited with making a major change in the team.

Personal life

He is the son of former Indian wicket-keeper

Hemant Kanitkar Hemant Shamsundar Kanitkar (8 December 1942 – 9 June 2015) was an Indian cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1974. His son, Hrishikesh Kanitkar Hrishikesh Hemant Kanitkar (; born 14 November 1974) is a former Indian crickete ...

who also played in two

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

, which were in 1974. He was a student at the New English School, Pune.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanitkar, Hrishikesh 1974 births Living people Indian cricketers India Test cricketers India One Day International cricketers West Zone cricketers Rajasthan cricketers Maharashtra cricketers Madhya Pradesh cricketers Central Zone cricketers Indian Premier League coaches Cricketers from Maharashtra Indian cricket coaches Rajasthan cricket captains