Anshul Kamboj had a tough initiation to Test cricket at Old Trafford, registering figures of 1-89 in 18 overs on debut. Was an injury behind his lacklustre performance?
Kamboj wasn't initially part of India's squad for the England Tests. When a couple of niggles to Indian seamers put their participation in doubt, Harshit Rana was added as cover. However, three matches in, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Nitish Kumar Reddy were ruled out of the fourth game. Kamboj was called up, ahead of Rana.
Kamboj's rapid ascension didn't stop there. He then pipped Prasidh Krishna to the XI as the third seamer, and took the new ball ahead of Mohammed Siraj. However, things didn't really go to plan.
In his first over, the 24-year-old seamer from Haryana conceded three boundaries and was taken off after three overs. Struggling to control line and length, Kamboj was also visibly down on pace. He averaged 128.26 kph on day two, which further dropped to 125.34 kph on the third day. Only one of the 18 overs he bowled was a maiden, and the wicket he took of Ben Duckett came of a short and wide delivery.
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Is Anshul Kamboj carrying an injury?
Kamboj was part of India A's tour of England last month, playing two first-class matches. He took five wickets at 26.20 ahead of the Test series. However, he headed back to India soon after, having suffered a shin injury.
Haryana Cricket Association's director of coaching Ashwini Kumar told Times of India before the start of the fourth Test how Kamboj was motivated to get himself back to full fitness: "Anshul was very upset that he got the injury. He came to the academy with the sole motive to get fit at the earliest.
"HCA (Haryana Cricket Association) has a training centre which is available 24 hours a day. He worked day and night to get fit. He didn't want it to get to the stage where BCCI's centre of excellence had to get involved."
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Eventually, Kamboj managed to get a green signal, and fast-tracked his way into the Test XI.
At the end of day three, India's bowling coach Morne Morkel was asked if Kamboj was facing any injury concerns. He did admit that the management was working on figuring out why his speeds were low.
"If he wasn't fully fit he won't be playing," Morkel said. "I wish I can give you that answer because I would've told him then how to bowl quicker. But he arrived here, he bowled well in the nets and then obviously we went with what I discussed earlier (on India wanting someone who could bowl a volume of overs with accuracy). Why speeds are so low, that is something that we are working on."
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Having not played any other competitive cricket after his recovery, it definitely would have been a challenging task to integrate into the Test team straight away. Given the quick turnaround required, Kamboj would have also had to race against time to be fit and in contention for a call-up. Eventually, the just-recovered shin – a key body part in fast bowling – could have impacted his overall lack of rhythm on debut.
R Ashwin, Kamboj's IPL teammate at Chennai Super Kings, also expressed concerns whether the rookie quick "was okay" on his YouTube channel.
"I praised Anshul Kamboj yesterday, but I have to say that his bowling speeds were so low, I was quite surprised," Ashwin said. "I honestly hope he is okay, because he was bowling faster than this in the IPL. He looked like he was struggling a touch."
Also read: Who is Anshul Kamboj, the Haryana pacer whom CSK got at 17 times his base price?
Before making his Test debut, the right-arm seamer had taken 79 wickets from 24 first-class matches at an average of 22.88, including a record 10-wicket haul in a Ranji Trophy innings. He has also played for both Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, two of the most successful teams in the history of the tournament.
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