Sujith Somasunder

Sujith Bijjahalli Somasundar pronunciation^ⓘ (born 2 December 1972) is an Indian former cricketer who played domestic cricket for Karnataka and played two One Day Internationals for India in 1996.

Sujith Somasundar

Personal information
Full name	Sujith Bijjahalli Somasundar
Born	(1972-12-02) 2 December 1972 (age 52) Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
International information
National side	India (1996)
ODI debut (cap 99)	17 October 1996 v South Africa
Last ODI	21 October 1996 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1991–2000	Karnataka
2001–2002	Saurashtra
2002–2003	Kerala
2004–2006	Karnataka
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA Matches 2 99 66 Runs scored 16 5,525 2,121 Batting average 8.00 35.64 34.77 100s/50s 0/0 11/30 6/6 Top score 9 222 152 Balls bowled – 1074 257 Wickets – 14 5 Bowling average – 34.92 45.40 5 wickets in innings – 0 0 10 wickets in match – 0 0 Best bowling – 3/15 3/12 Catches/stumpings 0/– 93/– 22/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 6 March 2006

Early domestic career

An opening batsman, Somasundar made his first appearance for Karnataka in the 1990–91 season of the Ranji Trophy. He played his first game against Maharashtra in February 1991 alongside another debutante and future India teammate Rahul Dravid. He made scores of 29 run out and 27 not out in the two innings. He played only one game in the following season, against Tamil Nadu, returning figures of 3/15 in five overs. He was not given his opening spot nor given enough opportunities to secure a permanent place in the Karnataka side. Somasundar was backed by former India cricketer Gundappa Vishwanath, who had been impressed by him at a local club. Viswanath's support and later Anil Kumble, along with the retirement of opening batsman Carlton Saldanha, created a place as an opener in the side for Somasundar.^[1]

He had a breakout season in 1994–95 when, promoted to open the batting, he scored back to back a centuries against Goa. Somasundar was a key member and scored the highest aggregate for the Karnataka team during its victorious 1995–96 Ranji Trophy campaign. He hit two centuries and five half-centuries, aggregating 803 runs at an average of 61.76 for the season, including scores of 99 and 53 in the final.^[1][2]

International call-up

Following his domestic performances, and his match winning century in the Challenger Trophy, impressed the then Captain Sachin Tendulkar who insisted that Somasundar would be his opening partner. He was thus, called up to the Indian national team for the Titan Cup, a triangular One Day International (ODI) series that also featured South Africa and Australia.^[3] He made his debut against South Africa in the first game at Hyderabad, scoring 9 before being run out by Daryll Cullinan.^[4] His second ODI was his last; playing against Australia at his home ground, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, Somasundar was dismissed by paceman Glenn McGrath for 7.^[5] He was subsequently dropped from the side and replaced by Navjot Singh Sidhu for the rest of the series.^[6]

Later domestic career

Though not recalled to the national side, Somasundar continued to be a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket. He aggregated 629 runs in the 1997–98 season and followed this by scoring 529 runs to help Karnataka to another Ranji Trophy triumph in 1998–99, including a score of 68 in the final against Uttar Pradesh. During the 1990s, he was part of a strong Karnataka team that contributed many players to the Indian side, including Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad, David Johnson, Dodda Ganesh and Sunil Joshi.

In the latter part of his career, he played for other state teams. Playing for Kerala in the 2002–03 Ranji Trophy, he scored his highest first-class score of 222 against Tripura.^[7] He also briefly played for Saurashtra. He was once again summoned to play for his own State Karnataka and also captained his State before announcing his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2007. He left a mark as an astute captain and one of the most successful captains for Karnataka, and being instrumental in carving out a couple of Ranji Trophy Victories.

Post-playing career

After retiring from first-class cricket in 2007, Somasunder transitioned into corporate and coaching roles. He worked at Wipro Technologies for over five years, where he was a Behavioural Specialist, leading transformational workshops for their Business Leaders .He later got appointed as the Head of Education at National Cricket Academy. ^[8]

He has also been heavily involved in coaching. From June 2012 to March 2014, he served as the head coach for the Kerala cricket team. During his first year, Kerala finished as runners-up in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over format) and the Ghulam Ahmed Trophy (20-over format).^[9]

A certified sports psychologist, Somasunder has used his training to mentor athletes. In October 2020, he was appointed as the Head of Education at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, working alongside its director, his former teammate Rahul Dravid.^[8]