Anshul Kamboj made his India debut at Old Trafford on Wednesday (July 23, 2025), picked ahead of fellow seamer Prasidh Krishna. Kamboj received his Test cap from former India wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta ahead of the start of the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series.
Kamboj was called up as cover for the fourth and fifth Tests after Arshdeep Singh was ruled out of the Manchester match, having injured his left thumb in the nets, and Akash Deep picked up a groin niggle, while all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy was out of the tour with a knee injury.
The 24-year-old from Haryana impressed in the lead-up to the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, performing consistently for India A against the England Lions. Across four innings at Northampton and Canterbury, he picked up five wickets, showcasing late movement and bounce.
Kamboj's domestic exploits are notable. He has picked up 79 wickets from 24 first-class matches so far at a superb average of 22.88 and strike rate of 44.2. This includes a 10-wicket haul in an innings against Kerala in a Ranji Trophy match at Lahli in 2024.
He is only the third bowler in the premier domestic red-ball cricket tournament's history after Premangsu Chatterjee of Bengal (10/20) and Pradeep Sundaram (10/78) of Rajasthan to have scalped all 10 wickets in an innings.
In List A cricket, the right-arm medium pacer has aggregated 40 wickets from 25 matches at an average of 20.20 and economy rate of 4.14.
"The appreciable thing about Anshul is that he understands the plan. I have seen so many fast bowlers if you ask them about the plan, they just say they want to express themselves and enjoy the game," former India off-spinner R Ashwin earlier said on his YouTube channel 'Ash Ki Baat'.
"But Anshul understands plans and also knows how to execute in the middle.It's not a trait many fast bowlers possess. Zaheer Khan was one of them. He was amazing.
"In recent times, Jassi (Bumrah) is one player who understands the plans and executes them to perfection. Anshul belongs to that variety. I'm not comparing skills because skills are a very different thing," Ashwin added.
(With PTI inputs)
