Dinesh Salunke

Dinesh Salunke came into the limelight in December 2006 as he was chosen in the Cricket Star Academy. He made good use of this chance and learned from Waqar Younis, Monty Panesar, Geoff Boycott, Sanjay Manjrekar and Kapil Dev. In Cricket Star (the first cricket talent hunt and reality show), he was selected as Man of the Series. Due to this selection, he became entitled for English summer training and coaching with Leicestershire County Cricket Club. At Leicester, he represented Little Thorpe and Narbourough Club where he scored 287 runs and took 28 wickets in 8 matches.

Salunke was one of the 23 contestants in the Cricket Star. As he performed nicely in this cricket reality show, Rajasthan Royals was impressed by his performance and offered him a place in their roster. During the 2008 season, he played in 6 games for the Royals. In one of his 3 batting performances, he scored an impressive 26 not out. However, he did not fare well with the ball and could claim just 1 wicket at an economy rate of 9.75 and bowling average of 78. He is presently a part of the Rajasthan Royals IPL 2011 team.