Dunna Venkateswara Rao

D.Venkateshwara Rao, 28 years old, is a seasoned player of the National team for Cricket for the World Cup. He has represented his state and country in matches across all the formats. As a proud player for the country, he has travelled to England, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, and will go now to Dubai. He has played in three World Cups and in the Asia Cup, and has been adjudged Best All Rounder in most of these tournaments. He has 6 centuries to his credit from 25 international matches. The highlight of his record in centuries is that 4 of them were against Pakistan and in each of them he scored a 126. That’s consistency for you! In domestic cricket, his highest has been an outstanding 279 in 82 balls in 2011 in the Nationals in Mumbai. As he talks, you can feel the intense passion he has for the game that he has mastered. Venkateshwara Rao was born on 22nd May 1991 at Uddanam Ramakrishnapuram in Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh. His Father (name Ramaswamy ) is a farmer and grows paddy. His Mother(Nookamma) is a housewife. He has one brother, younger to him. His Mother was earlier a daily wage earner, but when he got into the big league, his brother and he persuaded her to stop going out in search of work. How did he lose his eyesight? When he was about 4 years old a ball struck his right eye when he was playing. He rubbed his eyes and ignored the injury. He says he did not even tell his parents about it. A year or so later he felt his right eye going hazy and informed his parents. They took him to a doctor. By then his left eye also started to trouble him. The doctors could help him stem the deteriorating left eye but could not save his right eye. He had become visually impaired. The doctors advised him to join a school for the blind in Vishakapatnam. In the Blind School he continued playing cricket and was recognised as a good player. Blindness did not dampen his enthusiasm for the game. Venkateshwara Rao is a B2 category player. He generally opens, especially when his team is chasing a big score. He bowls medium pace and fields mostly at square leg. His international career began in 2011 and since then he has played in 30 ODIs and 25 T-20s. He has played in 4 World Cups. He recently took part in the IBSA world Games 2023 at Birmingham and won silver. At one time his favourite cricketer was Sachin Tendulkar; now it is Virat Kohli. Why Kohli? Kohli is an aggressive player and leads from the front. Venkateshwara Rao’s attributes match those of Kohli. Does he have any comments on Blind Cricket in India? He says Samarthana Trust and CABI have provided tremendous support and encouragement to the game but Governmental support is lacking. If that were forthcoming, the players would have got good jobs and they could have played without worries and tensions of the family. Does he have any intention of getting into cricket administration? Yes, he does think that he can pursue his passion for cricket through administrative roles. But before that he dreams of leading the Indian Team, a role that his senior colleagues in the team believe he is capable of.

• Hometown Andhra Pradesh
• Category B2