B. Vijayakrishna

Vijayakrishna, nicknamed "Viji", played fifteen seasons for Karnataka as a left arm spinner and batsman. Early on, his career was encouraged by the K. Nagabhushan, a Karnataka cricketer from the late 1960s, who made Vijayakrishna to bowl with a tennis ball in a car shed. He took three wickets against Hyderabad on his Ranji debut in 1968-69 and six against Madras in the next match. But his career was often interrupted by the presence of B. S. Chandrasekhar and Erapalli Prasanna when they were available to play the Ranji Trophy. He was included in the fourteen for the South Zone team for the Duleep Trophy in 1969 but got his next chance only ten years later.

In the quarter final against Rajasthan in 1971-72, he scored 71* with a severe ankle injury.[2] As he could not walk, he was carried all the way to the dressing room. He was dropped from the first four matches of 1975-76 for his "straightforwardness and frank expression of views".[3] Brought back to the side for the quarter final match against Maharashtra, he scored 66 in the first innnings and 102* in 138 minutes in the second that won him the award for the fastest century of the season.[4] His other first class hundred was scored against Bihar in 1977-78.

Against the 1978-79 West Indies team, Vijayakrishna took 6/79 and 3/89 to help Karnataka to a famous win.[5] He retired after the Ranji final against Bombay in 1982–83, after being part of all the three Karnataka wins till that point of time.

• B. Vijayakrishna at ESPNcricinfo