Medium-pacer Anshul Kamboj (23) was surprised and hopeful when he was selected in the India-C squad for the ongoing Duleep Trophy.
“I was not hoping for that (Duleep Trophy call-up) because I’ve done well in white-ball cricket. Red ball was not good for me last year. But (after selection) I was hoping that maybe I would come in and play. So, I got my chances, and I have done well,” he said after his team’s second-round Duleep Trophy match versus India-B at the Rural Development Trust (RDT) Stadium B-ground here on Sunday.
It was Kamboj’s eight for 69, his maiden first-class five-for, that helped India-C secure a big 193-run first-innings lead and for which, he was awarded Player-of-the-match. What makes this bowling effort even more special, is that it has come on a batting wicket with his team losing its pace spearhead Sandeep Warrier to a hamstring injury. Kamboj and Vijaykumar Vyshak had to bear the extra pace-bowling workload in Warrier’s absence.
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On top of that, Kamboj had come into the tournament, having played only 13 first-class matches and with the tag of being a white-ball performer.
Kamboj shot to prominence in white-ball cricket with his impressive bowling performance in the 2023-24 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He picked up 17 wickets in 10 matches for Haryana to clinch its first title. Subsequently, he was called up for the Mumbai Indians (MI) selection trials and after impressing the scouts, was signed up by the Indian Premier League (IPL) giant. He made his IPL debut versus Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Wankhede stadium this year.
He bowled Mayank Agarwal for his first IPL wicket after he’d bowled Travis Head off a no-ball. On both occasions, he’d hit the off-stump.
Cut to his eight-wicket haul, he had three bowled dismissals and rattled the off-stump on two occasions.
“I tend to bowl there only - third stump, fourth stump. I bowl regularly there, and because of that, I’m getting so many wickets. Usually, my line and length are there only. Irrespective of whether it’s moving or not moving, I will bowl there only,” he said.
There were two lbw dismissals, as well, indicating a stump-to-stump line of bowling. Speaking of his approach on the pitch, here, he said: “Actually, not much was happening for the bowlers on this wicket. So, I bowled in front of them (the batters), so that I can get lbw and bowled dismissals.”
India-B skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (157 n.o., 286b, 14x4, 1x6) wore the bowlers down with his attritional batting on the third day on Saturday. Some passages of play were especially inert. For instance, when Easwaran batted with Sarfaraz Khan (16, 55b, 1x4). After stumps, Kamboj admitted that he was feeling tired. But the exertion was worth it, as he’d had his prized scalp of Sarfaraz, besides other top batters.
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“Saifu bhaiyya (one dismissal that he’s especially happy about) - he’s one of the best [and] scored a lot of runs in the domestic circuit.”
His other notable victims include Jagadeesan, Musheer Khan, Rinku Singh, and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Asked if he felt the burden of the workload in Warrier’s absence, he was quick to say: “No, no. Usually, I used to bowl 20-25 overs per innings in my home state (Haryana) also. I have a habit of bowling more overs.”
The IPL experience has given him a lot of confidence. “It was all about confidence; seniors giving confidence to the juniors, pushing them to do well,” Kamboj added.
Now, this red-ball performance would boost his confidence further.
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