Haryana pacer Anshul Kamboj made his Test debut in Manchester in the fourth Test against England. His India call-up came very unexpectedly and very much out of the blue.
Kamboj was part of the India A side that played a few warm-up games against England Lions and the India senior team, where he took five wickets in two games.
Anshul Kamboj was chosen in the playing XI ahead of Harshit Rana, who was also a part of the India A squad and played in the Test series against Australia.
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Anshul Kamboj Picked Ahead Of Prasidh Krishna For Manchester Test
The Haryana pacer was one of the three changes for India for the Manchester Test. Kamboj replaced Akash Deep, who is ruled out of the fourth Test with a groin injury. Shardul Thakur replaced Nitish Kumar Reddy and Sai Sudharsan replaced the out-of-form Karun Nair
It showed the team management's faith in the young pacer that he was picked ahead of Prasidh Krishna, who had played in the opening two Tests of the series. The 24-year-old pacer from Haryana was handed his cap by Deep Dasgupta.
Kamboj did the hard yards in domestic cricket before finally getting his Test call-up, which was a reward for his persistence and hard work. He was instrumental in Haryana’s triumphant Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign in 2023. He took 17 wickets in 10 games. In return, he was picked up by Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023. He played three matches for them in 2024. In IPL 2025, he joined the Chennai Super Kings and picked up 8 wickets at an economy rate of just 8. He also has a 10-wicket haul in a Ranji Trophy match against Kerala.
He became only the third bowler in domestic cricket to take a 10-wicket haul in an innings after Bengal’s Premangsu Chatterjee (1956-57) and Rajasthan’s Pradeep Sundaram (1985-86). He bowled a spell of almost 31 overs taking 10 wickets for 49 runs, including nine maidens.
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Dream Come True For Anshul's Father
Kamboj’s father Udham Singh, who has been battling health issues in recent times, said that he cannot wait to see his son play for India.
"It all started with me wanting him to lose some weight. I had specifically asked Satish Rana (Kamboj’s childhood coach) to make him bowl. He was overweight and I just wanted to get him back in shape. I never thought he would end up playing for India. But the day I took him to the academy, he got hooked on the game, and it became his life," Udham Singh told TOI.
The pacer was handed over his Test cap by former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta. Kamboj was chosen ahead of Rana as he gets prodigious seam movement and also gets the ball to move laterally. The conditions in Manchester would suit his style of bowling when he gets the ball in his hand. Meanwhile, England won the toss in Manchester and opted to bowl first. The Indian openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal have added a 50-run stand just after the first hour on the opening day.
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