Haryana fast bowler Anshul Kamboj became only the third cricketer to take all ten wickets in an innings in the Ranji Trophy. He achieved this feat when he dismissed Kerala’s Shoun Roger at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium in Lahli, to finish with figures of 30.1-9-49-10 in the first innings.Two other bowlers had taken all ten wickets in an innings in the Ranji Trophy previously: Bengal’s Premangsu Chatterjee in 1956-57 and Rajasthan’s Pradeep Sunderam in 1985-86. Overall, Kamboj is the sixth Indian to achieve this feat in first-class cricket after legspinners Subhash Gupte and Anil Kumble, and Odisha seamer Debasis Mohanty. While there have been 90 instances of bowlers taking all ten wickets in an innings in first-class cricket, Kumble along with England’s Jim Laker and New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel are the only ones to do it in a Test match.Kamboj, 23, comes from Karnal in Haryana, a boxing heartland, and began playing cricket on open fields. It wasn’t until the age of 14 that he began to take cricket seriously. In less than a decade, Kamboj has progressed to play for his state team and has also broken into the IPL.The milestone of ten wickets in an innings is yet another achievement for Kamboj over the last 12 months. He took 17 wickets in ten games with an economy of 3.58 in Harayana’s run to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title, including a best of 4 for 30 in the semi-final against Tamil Nadu.While playing for India C against India B during the Duleep Trophy in September, Kamboj picked up 8 for 69, his best first-class figures until the ten-wicket haul. That performance included the wickets of seasoned domestic batters like Sarfaraz Khan, Rinku Singh and N Jagadeesan. Last month, he was part of the India Emerging squad at the T20 Asia Cup, where he turned in a match-winning performance of 3 for 33 against Pakistan Shaheens.Kamboj also got his maiden IPL contract this year with Mumbai Indians and played three games at the back end of a season where they finished in last place. He was a candidate to be an uncapped retention ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, and although that didn’t happen his performances this year will make him one of the uncapped Indian players to watch at the auction on November 24 and 25.
