CHENNAI: Among the famed spin quartet of India, S Venkataraghavan was perhaps the least glorified, though the tallest of them at half an inch short of six feet. It wasn’t that he wasn’t as skilled as Bishan Singh Bedi, E A S Prasanna and B S Chandrasekhar, but was the most accurate, hence had to sometimes sacrifice his loop and flight to keep his end tight.
The 69-year-old, who launched his Test career against Pakistan in 1965, 50 years to this date, ended up with 156 wickets at 36.11 in 56 Tests. Not exactly flattering stats, but that tells only partly of his gifts.
On his day, he could run through batting line-ups with his turn, bounce and guile. That he wasn’t afforded the opportunity is a travesty of justice, as his era coincided with some of the finest purveyors ever.
He played a vital but understated role in India’s watershed win in Port of Spain in 1971. In the second innings, he took a brilliant catch of Rohan Kanhai off Bedi before he mopped off the middle and lower order to restrict the Caribbean side to a modest 261. In the first innings, he had scored a gritty 51 as well.
“Everybody remembers Dilip Sardesai’s hundred and Sunil Gavaskar’s debut, but Venkat played a key role. He had everything in his armoury and hardly ever bowled any loose ball. With him bowling at the other end, I could always go on and attack the batsmen. Even if I were to get hit, he was there to strangle them,” pointed out Bedi.
An engineering graduate from the Madras Institute of Technology, he was methodical in his approach. Nothing flashy, nothing feisty, but all precision and efficiency.
“He was also a wonderful close-in fielder. He could field anywhere on the ground and had brilliant reflexes,” Bedi observed.
Towards the late 70s, as India unearthed Kapil Dev and relinquished the four-spinner strategy, his Test appearances came few and far between, though he captained India in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups.
But he was still active on the domestic and county circuits and retired with 1390 wickets at 24.14 in 341 matches. Moreover, only Ranjinder Goel (637) has more wickets than him (530) in Ranji Trophy.
He played his final Test in 1983, two years before he wound up his first-class career too. Seven years later, he was to embark on another fruitful stint, as an international umpire.
In 11 years, he officiated in 73 Tests and 52 ODIs before retiring as the finest umpire to have emerged from the country.