Venugopal Rao (cricketer)
Yalaka Venugopal Rao is an Indian former cricketer. He played as a right-handed middle-order batsman and right arm off-break bowler. He was the first Indian "super sub" in One Day International cricket. He majorly played for his home state Andhra in first-class cricket and then went on to play for India between 2005 and 2006. He also opened the batting for India in a one-day series in Zimbabwe. His younger brother, Gnaneswara Rao played for Kochi Tuskers Kerala in IPL. He also played for Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat between 2007 and 2015 and in between came back to play for Andhra between 2009 and 2012 and came back again for a single match in 2017 season.
International career
Venugopal Rao started his career playing for Andhra in domestic matches and impressed Indian selectors with a First-class average of over 50 and List-A average of around 40. This included one innings in the Ranji Trophy for South Zone where he scored 223 against a touring England A team which included Test bowlers such as Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff.He consequently earned a call up to the national side for the 2005 Indian Oil Cup in July 2005, after captain Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the team. He made sporadic appearances throughout the Indian 2005/06 season, mostly when other players were being rested under a rotation policy. He was unable to establish a position in the team, and did not play any further ODIs after May 2006. His poor domestic form further lead him to out of contention for national team.