Laxmi Ratan Shukla

Laxmi Ratan Shukla pronunciation  (Bengali: লক্ষ্মী রতন শুক্লা) (born 6 May 1981), is a former Indian cricketer and politician. He is a right-handed middle-order batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He represented Bengal cricket team.[2] He was also a player in the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad.[3] He was a member of the legislative assembly of West Bengal representing the All India Trinamool Congress. He resigned from the ministry on 5th January 2021.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla
Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports, Government of West Bengal
In office
27 May 2016 – 5 January 2021
Member of Legislative Assembly
West Bengal
Assumed office
19 May 2016
Preceded byAshok Ghosh
ConstituencyHowrah Uttar
Personal details
Political partyAll India Trinamool Congress (2016-2020)
Personal information
Full nameLaxmi Ratan Shukla
Born (1981-05-06) 6 May 1981
Howrah, West Bengal, India
NicknameBittu[1]
BattingRight hand bat
BowlingRight arm medium fast
RoleAll-Rounder
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 119)22 March 1999 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI5 September 1999 v West Indies
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2008–2013Kolkata Knight Riders
2014Delhi Daredevils
2015Sunrisers Hyderabad
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA T20
Matches 3 137 141 81
Runs scored 18 6217 2997 994
Batting average 9.00 35.93 30.27 20.70
100s/50s 0/0 9/37 4/13 0/3
Top score 15 250 151 76
Balls bowled 114 12820 5223 976
Wickets 1 172 143 47
Bowling average 94.00 34.75 27.62 24.61
5 wickets in innings - 3 1 -
10 wickets in match - - - -
Best bowling 1/25 6/86 5/34 3/6
Catches/stumpings 1/0 60/- 53/- 31/-
Source: Cricinfo, 17 November 2016

Early life

Shukla was born in Howrah, West Bengal, and did his schooling at Shree Hanumaan Jute Mill Hindi High School and the Don Bosco High & Technical School, Liluah.[4] He caught attention in the Ranji Trophy in the 1997–98 season, and rose to prominence for performing well for the Indian under-19s team in the MTN Youth World Cup in South Africa. He was a part of the Bengal team in the Wills Trophy, in which they got to the semi-final. In 2000 he was picked for the National Cricket Academy.[5]

On 30 December 2015 he announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.[6]

International career

Because of impressive performances in domestic level Shukla got a national call in 1999.[7] He was dropped in favour of Ashish Nehra in the first Test he was selected to play, against Sri Lanka at Colombo in the Asian Test Championship, even after his name appeared in the 11-member squad flashed on the electronic scoreboard at the ground. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on 22 March 1999 in Nagpur. He played his last ODI against West Indies in 1999.

In fact he did not get further chances after that season as a bowler because other young pace bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra had entered and established their places in the Indian Senior team, upon the impressive performances.

Although Shukla was renowned for his skills as an all rounder, but selectors gave the chances for the players like Sanjay Bangar , Kanitkar and eventually Irfan Pathan for quite a long time.

Once Laxmi Shukla was nicknamed as Jr Kapil Dev.

And was the most promising player of the junior level.

But he did not get the chances for a come back. That was really unfortunate for that young cricketer.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2012

He was by far the brightest performer as Bengal (captained by Sourav Ganguly) won its first Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2012.[8] In the group stage match against Jharkhand at Eden Gardens, he scored 151* from 96 balls (16 fours, 8 sixes) to chase down Jharkhand's score of 280/6 in just 38.1 overs. In the next match against Tripura at the Jadavpur University Sports Complex, after being bowled out to only 198 in 49 overs, he took 4/37 (and Sanjib Sanyal took 4/33 from his 8 overs) to bowl out Tripura for just 168 in 37.4 overs. In the quarter final, he took 2/37 against Madhya Pradesh. He took the wicket of Punjab's highest scorer Mandeep Singh (66) in the semifinal. In the final against Mumbai led by Ajit Agarkar, he took 4/38 (including openers Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane) to bowl out Mumbai for only 248, and then chased it down with a 107* off 83 ball-partnership with Anustup Majumdar. He scored 106* from 90 balls, and Anustup Majumdar scored 50* from 45 balls to win the Vijay Hazare Trophy with 23 balls to spare.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2013

Following his success as an all rounder in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2012, he was made the captain of Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2013. He started the tournament brilliantly, taking 5/34 and thus restricting Odisha to only 175, and winning the match by 11 runs.

Political career

He joined All India Trinamool Congress before 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election and became candidate from Howrah Uttar constituency. He won the seat by defeating Santosh Kumar Pathak of Indian National Congress.[9][10][11] He became the minister of State Sports and Youth Services in Mamata Banerjee's second government.[12] On 5 January 2021, he resigned as the Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports.[13]

References
  1. "Fire Brigade". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  2. "Laxmi Ratan Shukla sets up sports academy". www.millenniumpost.in. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  3. "5 Youngest ODI Debutants For India". www.sportskeeda.com. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  4. Mukherjee, Abhishek (7 May 2014). "Laxmi Ratan Shukla: The spark that never got ignited". Cricket Country. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  5. "Reetinder Singh Sodhi: The man who could be anything". www.sportskeeda.com. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  6. "Laxmi Shukla announces retirement". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN Sports Media. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  7. "His 'commitment questioned', Bengal's Laxmi Ratan Shukla calls it a day". The Indian Express. 31 December 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  8. "Laxmi Shukla announces retirement". Cricinfo. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  9. Ex-Bengal capt Laxmi Ratan Shukla wants to be known as
  10. Star-studded Mamata cabinet: Cricketer, singer among 17 new faces to take oath
  11. Ex-cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla among new faces in Mamata’s cabinet
  12. "Council of Ministers". Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  13. www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/tmc-mla-laxmi-ratan-shukla-resigns-as-bengal-minister-1756052-2021-01-05
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