B. S. Chandrasekhar facts for kids
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name |
Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar
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| Born | 17 May 1945 Mysore, Kingdom of Mysore, British India |
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| Nickname | Chandra | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Legbreak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 106) | 21 January 1964 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 12 July 1979 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Only ODI (cap 20) | 22 February 1976 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: ESPNcricinfo, 10 November 2014
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Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar (often called Chandra) is a famous former cricketer from India. He was born on May 17, 1945. He was known for his special way of bowling, called leg spin. Many people think he was one of the best leg spinners ever.
Chandra was part of a famous group of four Indian spin bowlers in the 1960s and 1970s. They were known as the Indian spin quartet. When he was very young, he got polio, which affected his right arm. But he didn't let that stop him from becoming a cricket star!
He played in 58 Test matches for India. In these matches, he took 242 wickets, which is a lot! His career lasted for 16 years. He is one of only two Test cricketers who took more wickets than the total runs they scored with the bat.
Chandra has received many important awards. In 1972, he was given the Padmashri, a high honor in India. He was also named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972. Wisden is like a very famous cricket magazine. In 2002, he won an award for the "Best bowling performance of the century" for India. This was for taking six wickets for only 38 runs against England in 1971. In 2004, he received the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award. This is the highest award given by the BCCI to a former player.
Early Life and Cricket Journey
Chandra was born in 1945 in a city called Mysore. He went to school there. He loved watching Australian leg spinner Richie Benaud play cricket. This made him interested in the game.
When he was six years old, he got polio. This made his right arm weak. But by the time he was 10, his hand got better. That's when he started playing cricket.
His family moved to Bangalore. There, he got to play for a team called "City Cricketers." Chandra said he joined the team mainly to play with a proper leather cricket ball. Before that, he mostly used a rubber ball when playing on the streets.
While playing for the club, Chandra tried different ways of bowling. He even tried fast bowling! But in 1963, he decided to focus on being a leg spin bowler. This was a great decision because he was soon chosen to play for the national Indian team.
Playing for India
Chandra played his first Test match for India against England in Bombay in 1964. He took four wickets in that game. In the same year, he was named the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year.
He played a big part in India's first ever Test win in England. This happened at The Oval in 1971. He took six wickets for only 38 runs. This amazing bowling performance was later called the "Indian Bowling performance of the century" by Wisden magazine in 2002. Wisden said he was very accurate for his type of bowler. They also noted his extra speed, which made him tough to play against. Because of his great bowling in 1971, he was named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1972.
In a Test match against New Zealand in 1976, Chandra and another bowler named Prasanna took 19 wickets together. They were very important in helping India win that match. Chandra is also famous for a funny comment he made to an umpire. It was a day when many of his appeals were turned down. He said, "I know he is bowled, but is he out?"
Chandra also helped India win in Australia in 1977–78. In that series, he did something very rare. He took exactly the same number of wickets for the same runs in both parts of a Test match (6 wickets for 52 runs).
Batting Skills
Chandra was mostly known for his bowling, not his batting. He didn't score many runs. His batting average in Test matches was 4.07. This means he scored about 4 runs on average each time he batted. He also got out without scoring any runs (called a "duck") 23 times in Test matches.
During the 1977–78 tour of Australia, he was even given a special bat! It was a Gray-Nicholls bat with a hole in it. This was a joke to remember the four times he got out for zero runs in that series. He is one of only two cricketers who took more wickets than the runs they scored in their Test career. The other is New Zealand bowler Chris Martin.
Awards and Honors
- Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1964
- Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1972
- Padmashri in 1972
- Arjuna Award in 1972
- C. K. Nayudu Award in 2004
See also
- List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by B. S. Chandrasekhar
