Ajay Ratra - India - WK-Batsman

A wicket-keeper batsman from Haryana, Ajay Ratra, played 6 Tests and 12 ODIs for India. He was part of the Indian team that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2000. Ratra was part of the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, where he sharpened his skills under the watchful eyes of Rod Marsh and Syed Kirmani.

Ratra was one of the six wicket-keepers the national selectors experimented with in a space of 12 months. He made his ODI debut against England at the Eden Gardens in 2002. In 8 ODI innings, his highest score was 30 and his average of 12.85 was not enough to keep him in the ODI team for long.

Even though his Test career was just 6 matches long, Ratra enjoyed more success in the longest format of the game in comparison to the ODIs. He made his Test debut against the West Indies at Queen's Park Oval in 2002. He got out for a duck in his first innings and managed a total of just 16 runs in his first two Tests.

Just when things were looking bleak for Ratra, he scored 115 not out in the first innings in Antigua. At just 20 years of age, he became the youngest wicket-keeper to score a Test century and only the second Indian wicket-keeper to do so in overseas conditions.

Even though the match ended in a draw, Ratra picked up the Man of the Match award for his performance. However, he failed to produce any knock of substance in his next 5 Test innings and eventually lost his Test place to Parthiv Patel, the youngest-ever wicket-keeper in Tests.

He announced his retirement from cricket in July 2015. He scored 4029 runs at an average of 30.29 in 99 first-class matches, including 25 scores of 50 or above. In 89 List A games, he made 1381 runs at an average of 22.63.