Sunil Valson is a former Indian cricketer and was part of the 14-member Indian squad for the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He was mainly a left-arm medium-pacer who played domestic cricket from 1981 to 1987. However, he hasn’t played any international game for India.
Table of Contents
Wiki/Biography
Sunil Valson was born on Thursday, 2 October 1958 (age 63 years; as of 2021) in Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Libra.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 10″
Weight (approx.): 70 kg
Hair Colour: Natural Black
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Family
He is married. Not much information is available about his family.
Signature/Autograph
Sunil Valson’s signature
Career
Stats
Bowling Stats
First-class
Matches- 75
Balls- 9945
Runs- 5376
Wickets- 212
BBI- 8/40
Average- 25.35
Economy- 3.24
Strike Rate- 46.9
5w- 6
10w- 1
List-A
Matches- 22
Balls- 1224
Runs- 691
Wickets- 23
BBI- 3/24
BBM- 3/24
Average- 30.04
Economy- 3.38
Strike Rate- 53.2
4w- 0
5w- 0
10w- 0
Batting Stats
First-class
Matches- 75
Innings- 64
Not Outs- 24
Runs- 376
Highest Score- 38
Average- 9.40
100s- 0
50s- 0
List-A
Matches- 22
Innings- 7
Not Outs- 5
Runs- 16
Highest Score- 11
Average- 8.00
100s- 0
50s- 0
Domestic Teams
At the starting of his career, he played for Tamil Nadu in 1981-82 against whom he took 26 wickets in five matches. Then he got selected in the South Zone team for the Duleep and Deodhar Trophy. After which, he decided to represent Delhi in the next season.
Sunil Valson old photo
While he was playing for the Durham West Coast league in England, he got the call to represent the Indian team for the 1983 World Cup. To confirm the news, he called his teammate Kirti Azad who at that time was playing club cricket in London. In an interview, he recalled,
“I knew it would be very difficult to get into the playing XI. I didn’t get a chance to play the match, but 14 players in the team had won the World Cup and I was one of them. No one can take away this right from me.”
Indian team squad for the 1983 World Cup. Sunil Valson at the extreme right standing
He was waiting for his chance to feature in the Indian playing eleven in any of the matches of the World Cup but due to the performance by Indian pace attack Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Roger Binny, and Balwinder Sandhu he could not make it to the playing side. He was the 12th man in a match against Zimbabwe where Kapil Dev scored 175 not out. Once, he revealed,
“Yes, there was one game. The second round-robin game against West Indies which we lost (by 66 runs). I don’t remember the ground (Oval). If I remember correctly Roger was having some niggle – hamstring or calf, I can’t recollect now. Kapil had said if Roger failed the fitness Test, I would play. Who isn’t excited at the whiff of an opportunity.”
After the World Cup, he represented Railways and became part of the team that reached the 1987 Ranji Trophy Final.
Facts/Trivia
- He joined GMR Sports as the Associate Vice President in 2008 when the Indian Premier League (IPL) started. GMR is a company that runs the IPL franchise – Delhi Daredevils. He also worked in the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) as a Senior Manager. He then served as the manager for Cricket Operations with Delhi Daredevils and was part of DDCA as a Cricket Improvement Committee member.
- On 24 December 2021, a Bollywood movie named ’83’ was released which, is based on India’s journey in winning the 1983 Cricket World Cup. R. Badree is playing the role of Sunil Valson.
R. Badree as Sunil Valson
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In 2014, BCCI started a new award dedicated to Sunil Valson for the achievement of cricketers who have spent the most amount of time in the dressing room. Manoj Tiwari is the first recipient of this award.