Rajesh Krishnakant Rao (born 9 December 1974) is a former English

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. Rao was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...

who bowled

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

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 ...

. He was born in

Park Royal Park Royal is an area in North West London, North West London, England, partly in the London Borough of Brent and partly the London Borough of Ealing. It is the site of the largest business park in London, but despite intensive existing use, ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Rao made his first-class debut for Sussex against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1996. From 1996 to 1999, he represented the county in 27 first-class matches, the last of which came against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

. In his 27 first-class matches for Sussex, he scored 874 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 20.80, with six half centuries and a high score of 89. In the field he took 7 catches. With the ball he took 4 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 74.00, with best figures of 1/1. It was for Sussex that Rao also made his debut in

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numb ...

, which came against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

in the 1996

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. From 1996 to 1999, he represented the county in 40 List A matches, the last of which came against Gloucestershire in the

Benson and Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

. In 2000, he played his first List A match for the

Middlesex Cricket Board The Middlesex Cricket Board was formed in 1996. It is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Middlesex. The Board of the MCB consists of four representatives nominated by the Middlesex County Cricket Club ...

against

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

in the

2000 NatWest Trophy The 2000 NatWest Trophy was the 20th and last NatWest Trophy before being renamed as the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy for the 2001 season. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 2 May and 26 August 20 ...

. From 2000 to 2002, he represented the Board in four List A matches, the last of which came against

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

in the 2nd round of the

2003 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2003 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was an English county cricket tournament, held between 29 August 2002 and 30 August 2003. The competition was won by Gloucestershire who beat Worcestershire by 7 wickets at Lord's. Format The eighteen f ...

which was held in 2002. In his career total of 44 List A matches, he scored 1,038 runs at an average of 24.71, with 7 half centuries and a single

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial ...

high score of 15. In the field he took 12 catches, while with the ball he took 5 wickets at an average of 33.80, with best figures of 3/31.

References

External links

Rajesh Rao
at

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Rajesh Rao
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Rajesh 1974 births Living people People from Park Royal Sportspeople from the London Borough of Brent Cricketers from Greater London English cricketers Sussex cricketers Middlesex Cricket Board cricketers British sportspeople of Indian descent British Asian cricketers