Not many Udaipurite might know this fact that there is an Udaipur born cricketer who has played over 50 One-day International matches representing England.

Vikram Solanki was born in Udaipur on April 1, 1976. He spent his initial years in Udaipur before his family relocated to  Wolverhampton when he was eight years old. Vikram’s father, Vijay Singh Solanki worked for Hindustan Zinc in Udaipur in the 80s.

Vikram Solanki represented England in 51 international One-day matches and scored 2 hundreds and 5 fifties in his career. Interestingly Solanki was the first super substitute in ODI cricket. This was when the concept was included wherein a twelfth man could replace any other player to bat, bowl or even  wicket-keep. Vikram played for Rajasthan in 2006-07 in the Ranji team.

Recalling his early years Solanki said that while in Udaipur, he loved cricket but did not watch cricket or listen on radio. He just played it. He said that his mother would tie-her sari up and bowl to him in the garden as a reward for doing school-work.