The missing 'X' factor in Y Venugopala Rao's career

The announcement of former India ODI batsman and Andhra's prolific yesteryear batsman Y Venugopala Rao's retirement from all forms of the game on Tuesday was on the cards for a long time.

"I was not playing for two years. It was no point holding on to my place. Moreover, I was not motivated to step on to the field again," Rao told DNA on Wednesday.

Rao began his international career at around the same time as the legendary and peerless Mahendra Singh Dhoni, about six months apart in the mid-2000s. Rao, however, faded after a year in international cricket, playing only 16 ODIs, scoring 218 runs from 11 innings with 61* against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in his penultimate visit to the crease as his highest. He batted in various positions from opening to No. 7 with four down being his designated slot in six of those innings.

However, he continued to score runs not only for Andhra but also for Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra while also plying his wares in the Indian Premier League for Deccan Chargers, Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad between 2008 and 2014.

A member of the victorious 2000 ICC Under-19 World Cup team led by Md Kaif, Rao was marked one for the future by the controversial coach Greg Chappell along with Suresh Raina among others.

He may not have lived up to the expectations of many including the legendary Australian.

But the 37-year-old does not have any regrets. He accepted how things shaped out and is thankful for having at least represented the country that so many others have only been dreaming of.

The Chappell era

While almost everybody in the Indian team did not get along well with Chappell during his tenure, Rao was grateful for the opportunities the former Australian captain gave him and other youngsters.

"There were a lot of positives and also negatives when Chappell was around. After all these years, I don't want to touch upon the negatives. I would like to stress that Chappell gave a lot of us talented youngsters opportunities, players like me, Dhoni, Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, etc.," Rao said from Hyderabad.

"I was new to the team, everything around me was new. I was representing my country and had to give my 100 per cent. I tried to stay away from all the controversies surrounding Chappell and the team."

Continuing to talk about the good things he shared with Chappell, Rao said: "He used to tell me to work hard. At around that time, I was captaining India 'A' and winning games while also doing well personally. He used to appreciate my captaincy and said I had very good cricketing knowledge. To come from a legend like him had positive impact on me."

While some of the other youngsters who Chappell encouraged went on to play longer, Rao's international career lasted only 10 months.

No backing 

Could he have played more for India?

Rao thought he could have have with a bit of more luck and some support.

"Cricket has given me everything," he reiterated. "I could have played more for the country. While some others had that 'X' factor support like the backing of the captain or the selector or the coach, maybe I did not have that. Virat Kohli got Dhoni's backing in his initial days, Raina was backed upon, Rahul Dravid had captain Md Azharuddin's backing. Even MS Dhoni was failing, he had the backing of somebody.

"At the same time, I don't regret that. You need luck also. Maybe a word from a senior player would have helped but since I came from a small association, unlike say Mumbai or Karnataka or Tamil Nadu etc., I did not have that backing. Most of the players who played longer had somebody's strong backing and people stuck by them. But I accepted that very early in my life and don't regret," said Rao, who still plays Tamil Nadu Cricket Association league cricket for MRF along with his younger brother and former India Under-19 batsman Y Gnaneswara Rao.

(Y Venugopala Rao (L) with MS Dhoni - TWITTER/@IMVENUGOPALRAO)

The Dhoni touch 

Reflecting on his career, Rao is proud to have partnered rooms with Dhoni and shared dressing room with some of the game's legends.

"Am very proud to have shared room with Dhoni on 'A' and senior India tours. For someone coming from a small town and to change the entire scenario in Indian cricket is a tremendous achievement. He handled things very well.

He took the right decisions, was more matured. I am fortunate to play with those players," said Rao, who played in 121 first-class matches from 1998-99 to 2017-18, amassing 7,801 runs with 17 hundreds and 30 fifties and averaged 40.93.

While all the talk now surrounds Dhoni and when he will retire, Rao had his views on his old friend. "Not just with Dhoni, any senior player serving the game for so long need to be given some space. The management has to talk to him what they feel. If there is proper communication, there won't be these negative talks. Problem only arises if there is no proper communication. And someone of the stature of Dhoni needs respect from all corners. They have been role models not just in cricket but for other sportspersons too," said Rao, who preferred Dhoni to still play in international cricket.

Rao spoke from personal experience meted out to him by his home association Andhra in the latter years. "It happened with me with a couple of people from my state association. If that communication is not there, then there is rift," he said.

Inspired by hard-working father 

Well settled in life with two young children 4-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, his early days were not smooth sailing, though.

"A lot of things happened in my life. Anything that can happen to a sportsperson happened to me – the good, the bad, everything. Every situation happened to me," he said.

Rao is the fourth among five brothers that all played cricket and his father, Y Matcheswara Rao, had to support them all with meagre earnings of Rs 3,000 per month in the early 1990s.

"Bringing up five kids – Sai, Shiva, Raghu, myself and Gnani – was not easy for a normal employee in a company," said Rao, who grew up in a small town Gajuwaka, about 20 kms from Visakhapatnam.

"I don't know how he ran the family with the meagre salary but he believed in his sons that they'd achieve something. He encouraged us to play cricket. He used to say 'what you liked, you did, I allowed. Will appreciate the same if you encouraged your kids to do what they liked'. My father used to stitch kit bags for us, wash our clothes. We five brothers shared just one bat," he said about his inspirational figure.

The financial position improved with the Rao brothers playing cricket and staying away from home for cricket camps. "Most of the time, for about 6-8 months in a year, were either playing or in camps. That meant away from home and so not so much burden to the family. With our daily allowances, we could save money for the family. Slowly things changed for the better.

"The match fees for Ranji Trophy in those days used to be Rs 3,500 or Rs 4,000. Along with the daily allowances, I used to return home with Rs 20,000. It was a huge amount for the family and helped it a big way. All he said to us was not to spend lavishly while at the same time spend on what was essential.

"For the U-19 World Cup in 2000, we got Rs 50,000 each. It was huge for me. We had to come up the hard way."

Rao considered Sachin Tendulkar as his role model. "In the Indian team, you find role models like Sachin Tendulkar, you share dressing room with them, whom you only have seen him on TV."

Since last playing a competitive game in october 2017, Rao has been doing commentary in Telugu.

Now that he has officially retired, he is open for options to give back to the game that has given him everything – "name, fame and money."