Salil Ashok Ankola (born 1 March 1968) is a current senior National men's cricket team selector and former international cricketer who played one Test match and 20 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1989 to 1997 for India.
A right-arm fast-medium bowler, he played first-class cricket for Mumbai, regularly opening the bowling.
Born in 1968 into a south Indian Konkani-speaking family which hails from the town of Ankola in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, Salil Ankola made his first-class debut at the age of 20 for Maharashtra in 1988–89.
Playing against Gujarat he scored 43 runs and took a six-wicket haul (six wickets in an innings) that included a hat-trick.
He followed with another six-wicket haul; six wickets for 51 runs in an innings against Baroda.
Overall, he collected 27 wickets at an average of 20.18 including three five wicket hauls during the season.
1989
Ankola's consistency for Mumbai team earned him a spot for representing India during their tour of Pakistan in 1989–90.
After the first Test match at Karachi, he was dropped for the subsequent matches in the series owing to injuries.
Owing to the consistent performances during the season, Ankola caught the attention of the selectors, as he was selected for the India's tour of Pakistan in 1989–90.
In a warm up match against BCCP Patron's XI he took six wickets for 77 runs in the first innings and collecting two more wickets in the second innings, thus taking his tally to eight wickets.
Ankola made his Test debut during the first test of the tour at Karachi, alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis, both would go on to become successful cricketers later in their careers.
In a match that was drawn, Ankola took two wickets for 128 runs.
Injuries sustained thereafter and prevented him from appearing in the remaining Tests of the series.
Soon after the Test series, that was drawn, Ankola was called for the ODI series.
He made his ODI debut in the second of the three-match series; the first ODI was abandoned due to bad lights.
Ankola picked up two wickets conceding 26 runs.
He arrived at number 10 in the second innings at a stage where India needed 15 runs of one over.
Ankola hit a six of the first ball that he faced off Imran Khan but eventually ended on the losing side.
In the next match, he bowled just 2.3 overs (15 balls) before the match was called off due to crowd disruption.
Despite being selected in the Test squads on domestic series and overseas tours, he never got an opportunity to play for the team.
Being dropped from the team without getting a game was known in cricket circles as being "Ankolad".
However, Ankola continued to play ODI cricket.
1990
In the early 1990s, he along with other bowlers such as Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule was trained under Frank Tyson.
Ankola mainly worked on altering his style rather than pace.
During this period, Ankola married Parineeta; the couple has two children—a daughter and a son.
After a period of three years, Ankola was selected for the Charms Cup against England and Zimbabwe at home.
1993
After a brief phase of playing first-class cricket, Ankola was called for the Indian ODI team during 1993, eventually led to being a part of the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
His reputation as a poor fielder, resulted in being dropped from the side after subsequent series.
At 28, Ankola retired from international cricket to pursue acting.
Since then he went on to appear in a number of Indian soap operas and a few Bollywood movies.
In a match against South Africa during the 1993 Hero Cup, he captured three wickets for 33 runs, which remained his career-best bowling figures in ODIs.
1996
In 1996, Ankola was selected in the Indian team for the World Cup.
In the tournament he played just one match against Sri Lanka.
In a match that India lost, he conceded 28 runs off five overs without claiming any wicket.
Shortly after the World Cup, the selectors with immediate effect dropped Ankola along with Vinod Kambli and all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar—all were a part of the squad earlier—for the Singer cup and Pepsi Sharjah Cup.
Ankola was replaced by medium-fast bowler Prashant Vaidya.
However, Ankola was subsequently selected for the Indian team that toured South Africa in 1996—97.
Despite being a part of the squad, he was never given a chance to represent the playing XI in any of the Test matches.
2020
In 2020, he was selected as the chief selector of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
He was a selector of the National team from January 2023 till January 2024.
