Wandavasi Dorakanti Balaji Rao (born 4 March 1978) is an Indian-Canadian former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played 10

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s and four

Twenty20 Internationals Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In ...

for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

between 2008 and 2011. Earlier in his career, he made appearances for the

India national under-19 cricket team The Indian men’s national under-19 cricket team represents India in cricket at Under-19 level. The team has won five Under-19 World Cups and has the best win percentage in ODIs among all Under-19 national teams. The team has won the Under ...

Cricket career

Balaji represented

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

. He played for the Centurions Cricket Club, a large cricket organization in Toronto.

Controversies

On 3 March 2011, in the

2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, while the latter hosted World Cup matches for the first time. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the 2 ...

match between Canada and Pakistan, following an aggressive exchange between Pakistani bowler

Umar Gul Umar Gul (Urdu: , ) (born 15 October 1982) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who is the current bowling consultant of Peshawar Zalmi and interim bowling coach of the Pakistan national cricket team. Gul was a member of the Pakis ...

, Rao, who was batting, lashed out with Hindi slurs after Pakistani fielder

Ahmed Shehzad Ahmed Shehzad (born 23 November 1991) is a former Pakistani international cricketer. He is an opening batsman who made his One Day International and Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan in April 2009 against Australia. He was a member o ...

appeared to provoke the batsman.

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Canada One Day International cricketers Canada Twenty20 International cricketers Canadian cricketers Indian cricketers Railways cricketers Telugu people Indian emigrants to Canada Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Tamil Nadu cricketers South Zone cricketers Cricketers from Chennai {{Canada-cricket-bio-stub