B.S. Chandrasekhar

B. S. Chandrasekhar Biography

Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar is a former Indian cricketer. He was born in Mysore, when India was still a British Colony.

He was a prolific Leg-Spinner and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972.

He was affected by Polio at a young age which affected his right arm. But that didn’t stop him from receiving the Wisden's award for "Best bowling performance of the century" for India when he scalped six wickets and conceded just 38 runs against England at The Oval in 1971.

Background

At the age of 6, he was a victim was Polio which left him with his right arm withered. Fortunately, he was cured and started playing cricket at the age of 10 with Australian leg-spinner Richie Benaud being an inspiring figure.

He played First-class cricket from the 1963/64 season till 1979/80 and List-A matches for 2 years from since the 1975/76 season.

He relocated to Bangalore where he got the chance to play for City Cricketers. He had a deeper understanding of the game while playing with the Leather ball. When he started playing for the club, he experimented a lot of bowling styles before becoming a leg spinner.

Debut

He made it into the Squad for the England tour of India and missed the First Test at Chennai before making the debut in the 2nd Test at Mumbai on 21st January 1964. He bowled 40 overs in his very first Innings in International Cricket and scalped 4 wickets and got a wicket in the second innings.

He made his ODI debut in the India tour of New Zealand on 22nd February 1976 when he was the pick of the bowlers for India as he finished with figures of 3/37. Despite his best efforts, the team collapsed while batting resulting in handing over the match. Unfortunately, the match turned out to be his last match donning the Blue jersey.

Rise to Glory

He was instrumental in setting up the match for India in their first ever win in England he picked up six wickets for 38 runs at The Oval in 1971.

His consistent performance in 1971 led to him being named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1972. He was fifth Indian to win the award.

Chandrasekhar teaming up with along Prasanna took 19 wickets in a Test against New Zealand in 1976 setting up the victory.

In 1978, he was instrumental in India's first win in Australia, taking 12 for 104 at Melbourne.

He holds the dubious record of being one of only two players to have scored fewer runs (167) off his bat than wickets (242) taken in Test cricket with other being New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin.

Retirement

He played his last match for India in the limited overs format on 22nd February 1976 which incidentally was his debut match.

He last played in the 1st Test of India tour of England at Birmingham on 12th July 1979 in which he conceded 113 runs without claiming any wicket in the first innings. This incidentally turned out to be his last innings with the ball as India failed terribly with the bat and lost by an innings. Chandrasekhar failed to score and remained unbeaten across both the innings.