Full name : Rudra Pratap Singh
Born : December 6, 1985, Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh
Current age : 23 years
Major teams : India, Deccan Chargers, India A, India Under-19s, Leicestershire, Rajasthan Cricket Association President's XI, Uttar Pradesh
Batting style : Right-hand bat
Bowling style : Left-arm fast-medium
Profile
Rudra Pratap Singh first made the headlines in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2004, taking eight wickets at 24.75 apiece and bowling well in the slog overs at the end of the innings. Later that year he joined the conveyor belt of Indian left-arm seamers, taking 34 wickets in six Ranji Trophy games for Uttar Pradesh, the joint-highest for the summer. He made the national one-day squad at the end of 2005, and took two wickets in his second over of international cricket, against Zimbabwe at Harare in September. He took four wickets (and the match award) against Sri Lanka in his third game, and three more in his fourth, before a run of four wicketless matches cost him his place after the first match of the West Indies tour in May 2006. He also won a couple of Test caps, winning the match award on his debut for some persistent bowling on a shirtfront at Faisalabad, where Pakistan ran up 588. He drifted out of contention after that, but he is still young, and well respected in the Indian set-up, as Virender Sehwag confirmed: "RP is a very talented bowler - his specialty is that he can bring the ball into the right-handers and swing it both ways." He was recalled for the tours of Bangladesh and England in 2007. It was the start of his most prolific season, which included a five-wicket haul at Lord's, crucial strikes in the victorious ICC World Twenty20 and a four-wicket haul in Perth which shut Australia out of the match. However, his bowling lacked bite after the tour of Australia and went wicket-less in the home Tests against South Africa.
