Bhubaneswar: Sunil Joshi has been appointed by the board as the chairman of the senior selection committee of the BCCI. He comes in place of MSK Prasad whose tenure ended recently. Joshi was given preference over former cricketers like Venkatesh Prasad and Ajit Agarkar, both of who were at one time his teammates in the Indian squad.
But then did you know that Joshi has also played with the present captain of the Indian cricket team Virat Kohli. One may shake the head in disbelief but then it is a fact.
Joshi at the twilight of his career played in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. Kohli had then just led India to the under-19 World Cup triumph and was signed up by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Being a Bangalore boy, Joshi was also recruited by the franchise which was then headed by Vijay Mallya.
However, Joshi who bowled left-arm spin and was a lower-order hard-hitting batsman did not have a very good IPL. He was a part of the playing XI in four games only. He took one wicket and scored only six runs. Kohli incidentally was also in the squad in the matches Joshi played.
Joshi’s last Test was in 2000 when he played against Zimbabwe under the captaincy of present BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. He played his last ODI in 2001 against Australia at Pune.
Overall in 26 Tests the bowling all-rounder took 41 wickets and scored 392 runs. In 69 ODIs he took 69 wickets and scored 592 runs. Even though he made his exit from the international scene in the early 2000s he continued to represent Karnataka till 2011 when he hung up his boots.
PNN & Agencies