Vikram Rathour (Team India batting coach): Age, Wife, Career, Stats

Vikram Rathour is a former Indian cricketer who has represented the Indian team in Tests and One Day Internationals from 1996 to 1997. He is currently serving as the batting coach of the Indian team. He replaced Sanjay Bangar for the batting coach spot on 22nd August 2019 after beating 14 other contestants including former England batsman Jonathon Trott, Mark Ramprakash, and Pravin Amre.

Personal Details

Name: Vikram Rathour

Date of Birth: March 26, 1969

Place of Birth: Jalandhar, Punjab

Vikram Rathour age: 51 years (As on June 2020)

Batting style: Right-hand bat

Fielding position: Wicket Keeper

Nationality: Indian

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Religion: Hinduism

Personal Life:

Marital Status: Married

Vikram Rathour Wife name: NA

Physical Appearance:

Weight: 75Kg

Height:  188cm / 6’ 2’

Eye Colour: Dark Brown

Hair Colour: Black

Instagram: @vikramrathourofficial

Vikram Rathour Career and stats:

First-Class debut: Against Services in 1985

Vikram Rathour had an illustrious first-class career. He was the torchbearer of the Punjab batting in the nineties. He showed great promise in his early days. He finished his impressive first-class career with 11,473 runs from 146 matches with an outstanding average of 49.66. He has also scored 33 centuries and 49 half-centuries in these many first-class matches with the highest score of 254 runs.

He was a member of the Punjab team that won the Ranji Trophy under the coaching of Bishan Singh Bedi.

His impressive domestic numbers paved way for his selection into the team that visited England in 1996. He made full use of that opportunity and scored tons of runs in the tour games. He scored 759 runs at an average of 58.38, including a fighting 165 against Worcestershire. These impressive performances automatically led to his national selection.

He officially announced his retirement from first-class cricket in November 2003.

International Career:

Video of Rathour’s batting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVzfp4vFcHc

International Cricket Career: 6 Tests and 7 ODIs from 1996 to 1997

Test debut: Against England at Birmingham on Jun 6, 1996.

Last Test: Against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Jan 16, 1997

ODI debut: Against Pakistan at Sharjah on Apr 15, 1996.

Last ODI: Against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on Feb 17, 1997

Vikram Rathour International Career

Vikram Rathore played as an opening batsman in Team India for a brief period. He opened the batting with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar on his first tour. He has represented India in 6 test matches and has scored 131 runs in the 10 innings at the average of 34.20 with a high score of 44 runs. He has also taken 12 catches in the tests.

He has represented India in 7 ODIs and had scored 193 runs at an average of 27. In the ODIs his highest score was 54. His short ODI career included two half-centuries. Rathour couldn’t very well replicate his first-class heroics in the international stage and hence was replaced from the Indian squad after the tour of South Africa in 1996-97.

Coaching:

He was the first choice batting coach for the MSK Prasad led selection committee that convened in August 2019. The committee took the expert opinion of CAC which included legendary cricketers Kapil Dev and Anshuman Gaekwad. He has served as the director of HPCA and has coached Punjab Cricket Association at first-class level. He also had a brief stint with Kings XI Punjab as the assistant coach and had been involved in various assignments with the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

The road ahead

Rathore replaced Sanjay Bangar after he was sacked after India’s unexpected exit from the semifinals of the 2019World Cup. According to the selector MSK Prasad the team needed a fresh mindset in their batting department looking at the World Test Championship and two T20 Wold tournaments in place. So to keep his job for a longer period Rathour will have to make the team capable of producing match-winning efforts in the ICC Knockouts, where Team India had been struggling off late.

Lesser-known facts

• He was the assistant coach of KXIP in 2011.
• He was a member of the Sandip Patil led selection committee until 2016.
• He was the director of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association from 2017 to 2019.
• He had earlier applied for the post of batting advisor of National Cricket Academy and for the batting coach of the Indian Under-19 team.