Salil Ankola

Salil Ashok Ankola (born March 1, 1968, Solapur, Maharashtra) is a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test and 20 ODIs from 1989 to 1997. He was a member of the Indian cricket team for the 1996 Cricket World Cup.

Ankola was a right arm fast medium bowler and a right hand lower order batsman. He played first class cricket for Mumbai and regularly opened the bowling attack. His consistent performances for Mumbai frequently earned him a call for representing India in various tours.

International career

Ankola made his Test debut in the same match as Sachin Tendulkar in Pakistan. That effectively was also his last in Test cricket despite being in various Indian Test squads on domestic and overseas tours. He was selected on numerous tours in the squad of 14 but was often dropped from subsequent tours without even getting an opportunity to represent India. Being dropped from the Indian team without getting a game was known in cricket circles as being "Ankolad".

He was part of the Indian World Cup squad in 1996. In the match against Sri Lanka, where Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana demolished the Indian bowling, he was the only bowler on show to have an economy rate of less than 6 runs per over. After a successful South African tour in 1996, Ankola was dropped again for the West Indies tour leading the then Captain Sachin Tendulkar to express his surprise in saying that he did not press for Ankola's inclusion since he thought that Ankola was a certainty...
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