Wisden Overview
A burning passion for cricket at a young age inspired Sunil Joshi to travel 40 miles to Hubli each morning for practice, and then return to his native town of Gadag in time for school. In 1995-96, his orthodox left-arm spin, delivered with the silkiest action seen since the days of Bishan Bedi, and some free-swinging lower-order batting took him to an unprecedented Ranji Trophy double of 500 runs and 50 wickets. It earned him a ticket to England with the Indian team, but a broken finger forced him to return home without bowling a ball on his Test debut. Joshi has had some champagne moments since, such as an astonishing spell of 10-6-6-5 spell in a one-dayer against South Africa, but it's been more a case of just maintaining par, and often slipping below it. Joshi has sometimes been criticised for being too slow through the air - and so too easy to hit over the top - and for not having the stomach for a battle. Rahul Bhattacharya