Anshul Kambhoj makes Ranji Trophy history with latest feat in Haryana’s match against Kerala at Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium.
Anshul Kambhoj the Haryana fast bowler, became only the third cricketer in Ranji Trophy history to pick all ten wickets in an innings
Kamboj concluded with statistics of 30.1-9-49-10, having started the day needing two more wickets to achieve the feat. These numbers surpass Joginder Sharma’s previous mark of 8 for 24 against Vidarbha in 2004-05, making them the best by a Haryana bowler in Ranji history.
Premangsu Chatterjee of Bengal in 1956–57 and Pradeep Sunderam of Rajasthan in 1985–86 are the only two players besides Kamboj who have taken all ten wickets in an innings in the Ranji Trophy. Overall, Kamboj is only the sixth Indian to accomplish this feat in first-class cricket; the other two are Odisha seamer Debasis Mohanty and the legspin-bowling duo of Subhash Gupte and Anil Kumble (during a Test match against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999).
Alongside Jim Laker of England and Ajaz Patel of New Zealand, Kumble is one of just three bowlers in international cricket to have taken ten wickets in a single innings.
Born in Haryana’s boxing hotbed of Karnal, Kamboj started playing cricket in open grounds. He didn’t start taking cricket seriously till he was fourteen years old. In fewer than ten years, Kamboj has not only advanced to his state team but also made his IPL debut, which has helped him get over the disappointment of not making the India Under-19 squad.
Kamboj has had an outstanding year, and this milestone of taking ten wickets in an innings is just another accomplishment. He started it all by taking the third-most wickets during Haryana’s ascent to their first Vijay Hazare title. In ten games, he had taken 17 wickets at an economy rate of 3.58, including a best of 4 for 30 against Tamil Nadu in the semi-final.
Kamboj played for the India Emerging team at the T20 Asia Cup last month, where he defeated the Pakistan Shaheens with a game-winning 3 for 33.
In the meanwhile, Kamboj signed his first IPL deal with the Mumbai Indians, playing three games for them in 2024 as the team ended last in a disastrous season. Although it didn’t work out, Kamboj was discussed as an uncapped retention for 2025. However, given the timing of his performance, he will be one of the uncapped players to keep an eye on at the next big auction.