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Rajkumar Sharma is a former Indian cricket player turned coach. He played for Delhi cricket team between 1986 and 1991. He was the first coach of Virat Kohli.
Wiki/Biography
Rajkumar Sharma was born on Friday, 18 June 1965 (age 58 years as in 2023) in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Gemini. Sharma completed his schooling from St. Mary’s Academy, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Political Science (Hons) from Pannalal Girdharlal Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College (PGDAV), Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, Delhi. His friends and family fondly called him Raju.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 7″
Weight (Approx): 75 kg
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
The name of his parents was not known. He has two brothers, Sunil Sharma and NK Sharma.
Rajkumar Sharma with his mother and family
Sunil Sharma
wife and children
His wife’s name is not known. They have two children, a son named Aviral Sharma and a daughter named Suhani Sharma. Suhani was an architect.
Childhood pictures of Rajkumar Sharma’s children
A picture of Rajkumar Sharma with his wife
Cricket
domestic
Rajkumar Sharma represented the Delhi Under-22 and Delhi cricket teams at the domestic level. On 13 December 1986, he made his debut for Delhi against the Services cricket team in the 1986–1987 season of the Ranji Trophy. He enjoyed a brilliant campaign in his first season and took seven wickets at an average of 38.00 between 13 December 1986 and 21 February 1987. Sharma reached the Ranji Trophy final in his first season with the Delhi team; However, the Hyderabad team defeated Delhi in the final of the 1986–1987 season of Ranji Trophy and won the title. On 28 February 1987, the cricketer was named in the playing eleven against the Pakistani team during India’s tour of Pakistan. Sharma scored six runs and took one wicket in 13 overs in the first innings; He took two wickets in 30 overs in the second innings. In March 1989, Rajkumar was named in the Delhi squad for the 1988–1989 season of the Wills One-Day Trophy; He played three List-A matches for the Delhi cricket team between 12 March 1989 and 18 March 1989 in the competition.
A picture of Rajkumar Sharma (far left) with former Indian cricket players
On 12 March 1989, the cricketer took two wickets at an economy of 3.30 against Tamil Nadu in the quarter-final match. On 18 March 1989, he bowled ten overs at an economy of 3.80 against the Railways cricket team in the final of the Wills One-Day Trophy. Delhi won the cup by winning the match by eight wickets; This was his final appearance in List-A matches. In 1988, Sharma was part of the Delhi team for the 1988–1989 season of the Ranji Trophy. He scored seven runs against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy final on 22 March 1989, and Delhi defeated Bengal by an innings and 210 runs; This was the first time they won the Ranji Trophy. Rajkumar was part of the Delhi team that participated in the 1990–1991 season of the Ranji Trophy; This was his final season with the Delhi team. On 12 January 1991, he was named in the playing eleven for the Ranji Trophy match against Punjab, and in the first innings, he scored 15 runs and took one wicket; This was his highest score in the competition. Sharma bowled seven overs but did not bat in the second innings; This was his final appearance in first-class cricket and the Ranji Trophy. The cricketer was part of the Delhi cricket team between 15 December 1986 and 12 January 1991 and played eight first-class matches in the Ranji Trophy.
post retirement
West Delhi Cricket Academy (WDCA)
After announcing his retirement from professional cricket, in 1998, he started a cricket academy, West Delhi Cricket Academy (WDCA) in Paschim Vihar, Delhi. On 30 May 1998, Virat Kohli joined their academy; Virat was one of the first students of WDCA. Kohli joined the academy when he was around ten years old. After Kohli’s tremendous progress in cricket, WDCA became popular and Rajkumar later opened three more branches in different parts of Delhi.
An excerpt from an article on Rajkumar Sharma’s Cricket Academy
A picture of Rajkumar Sharma with students at the West Delhi Cricket Academy
In 2022, WDCA graduates Pulkit Narang and Deepak Dhapola were selected to play for the Duleep Trophy. Sharma trained Indian cricketer Anuj Rawat at WDCA; Anuj was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the 2023 season of IPL. Some reports suggested that the academy produced more than 50 state team players.
A picture of Rajkumar Sharma and Virat Kohli with the students of West Delhi Cricket Academy
Selectors and coaches
He served as a junior coach and selector under the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for almost 18 years between 2001 and 2019; He also worked with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). In 2017, Sharma was appointed as the coach of the Delhi junior cricket team, and he won the CK Nayudu Under-23 Trophy in his first season as coach. During his tenure as coach, players like Hiten Dalal were promoted to the senior team. He served as a junior coach and selector under the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for almost 18 years between 2001 and 2019. Later, when he was not given any post under the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), he took up the post. The role of head coach of the Malta national team for the ICC qualifying tournament held in Spain in March 2019.
A picture of Rajkumar Sharma with the Malta national team
The ICC three-nation divisional tournament was between Malta, Spain and Estonia. The matches were held between 29 March 2019 and 31 March 2019; Malta defeated Estonia by 13 runs in the opening match of the Spain triangular T20I series. In 2019, Sharma was appointed the bowling coach of the Delhi Ranji team ahead of the 2019–2020 season. After his impressive tenure, he was named the head coach of the Delhi Ranji team for the 2020–2021 season on 20 December 2020. Later, he was retained as the head coach of the team ahead of the 2021–2022 season; However, he was removed as head coach ahead of the 2022–2023 season following the team’s poor performance in the domestic campaign. Later he was made the bowling coach of Delhi team.
A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma (front row, third from left) with the coaching staff of the Delhi team
award
- 29 August 2016: Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches in sports
car collection
On 5 September 2014, Virat Kohli gifted him a Skoda Rapid car as a Teacher’s Day gift.
Facts/General Knowledge
- While talking about his relationship with Rajkumar in an interview, Virat Kohli had described his coach as his guru and guiding influence.
- On 9 November 2022, he was honored with a memento by the Indian Air Force; Wing Commander Prasad, representing the Air Force, handed over the memento.
- Some reports suggested that Sharma shared a strong bond with former Indian captain Virat Kohli. In an interview, while talking about Virat’s childhood, Sharma told that he noticed that Kohli was different from others right from the early days of training and said that when Virat joined the academy he was an active, hyperactive and Was a mischievous person. Rajkumar said the cricketer had tremendous self-confidence and discipline; He termed the cricketer as an honest student and said that he was like a son to him.
A picture of Rajkumar Sharma with Virat Kohli receiving the award from Ashish Nehra
- Pranab Mukherjee presented him with the Dronacharya Award during the Sports and Adventure Awards 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
A photograph of Rajkumar Sharma receiving the Dronacharya Award from Pranab Mukherjee
- The prince and his wife were invited to the wedding ceremony of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma in December 2017.
- After retiring from professional cricket, he worked in the banking sector. Some reports suggest that when he worked as a manager at Bank of Baroda in New Delhi, Delhi, he donated around 500 PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to the policemen and traffic police officers deployed at Rajouri Garden, Connaught Place and Dariya. )) kits distributed. Ganj police station amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
- Rajkumar later worked as a cricket analyst in India TV.
- In 2021, after the BCCI removed Virat Kohli from the India captaincy, some reports revealed that Sharma criticized the BCCI’s decision and lack of transparency; He condemned the approach that was taken to replace the national team captain.
A picture of Rajkumar Sharma and Virat Kohli
- The former cricketer defended his ward’s choice to step down as Royal Challengers Bangalore captain in September 2021. Speaking about Kohli’s decision in an interview, he said that it was part of Virat’s plan to manage the workload to focus on Tests and ODIs. Cricket.
- Virat went through a poor form in the beginning of 2022. In an interview, his coach Rajkumar Sharma suggested the Indian cricketer to work on the fundamentals and said that Kohli could benefit from training at the WDCA Academy as he has done many times.
- Rajkumar participated in the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC) match on 6 May 2023. He rang the bell to start the match; A video of Virat seeking blessings from his childhood coach before the match went viral on social media.
A healthy meet and greet 🤗@imVkohli Met my childhood coach#TATAIPL , #DCvRCB , @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/YHifXeN6PE
– IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) 6 May 2023
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn