Sadanand Viswanath ( kn, ಸದಾನಂದ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ್‌) (born 28 November 1962,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

) is a former

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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 in 3

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and 22

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s, from 1985 to 1988. Currently, he is a first class umpire and coach.

Career

Vishy gained recognition during the height of India's ascendancy in world cricket in the mid '80s. Sadanand was first selected in the Indian team which won the World Championship of Cricket tournament in Australia and the Rothmans Cup in Sharjah days later, in 1985. The thumping triumphs, where India did not lose a single match, validated its claim as the world's best ODI team. People had started to believe in the qualities of a team they earlier thought had won the 1983 World Cup by fluke.

Playing style

An aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman, Vishwanath is remembered for a hard six he hit out of Bangalore's Chinnaswamy stadium against

Allan Border Allan Robert Border (born 27 July 1955) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test ma ...

's Australians. Border commented later, "The ball probably had ice on it when it came down!"

International career

Viswanath's stint in international cricket was brief but the fiery wicketkeeper was noticed by all.

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 ...

commented in his book 'One-Day Wonders', "People will talk about many other reasons why we won the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 but one of the main reasons was the presence of Sadanand Vishwanath behind the stumps." The Australian media too had written that " this good-looking wicket-keeper may be on his way to becoming India’s best ever."

Death of Parents

India's poster boy was not to fire fully in the late '80s. The death of his parents within a short span of time had a demoralising effect. Viswanath was not able to fulfil the expectations placed upon him, and was replaced as wicketkeeper by

Kiran More Kiran Shankar More (born 4 September 1962) is an Indian former cricketer and wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team from 1984 to 1993. He also took up the position Chairman of the Selection Committee of the BCCI till Dilip Vengsarkar took ...

and

Chandrakant Pandit Chandrakant Sitaram Pandit (born 30 September 1961) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 5 Tests and 36 ODIs from 1986 to 1992. He was a Wicket Keeper Batsman for Indian national cricket team. He made his test debut against E ...

. The legacy of this firebrand cricketer remains though.

Coaching Academy

Sadanand now runs his private cricket coaching academy for young boys in

Kundalahalli Kundalahalli is an eastern suburb of Bengaluru city in Karnataka state of India. Connectivity A six-lane railway overbridge near Marathahalli Junction connects Kundalahalli area and HAL Airport Road. Kundalahalli junction (aka Kundalahalli G ...

and also follows the game closely as an umpire in India's domestic championship for the Ranji Trophy. Recently, Sadanand was promoted to the Elite Panel of Indian umpires which makes him eligible to umpire the upper tier, that is, the zonal matches played for the Duleep and Deodhar Trophies.

References

External links

Sadanand Viswanath
at

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1962 births Indian cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Test cricketers South Zone cricketers Karnataka cricketers Living people Cricketers from Bangalore Wicket-keepers {{India-cricket-bio-1960s-stub