Young and unheralded Railways pacer Karan Thakur on Saturday created history by becoming the first bowler in Col CK Nayudu Trophy (U-25) to take all ten wickets in an innings at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara.
The 23-year-old Delhi lad, who plays for the Railways U-25 side, recorded figures of 28.5-5-77-10 but his team lost the match by ten wickets against Baroda as the batsmen failed to score enough runs. Thakur has been regularly training at the MRF Pace Academy and also had sessions with Aussie great Glenn McGrath.
“I have been fortunate to have interacted with McGrath sir a couple of times at the Academy. He gave me some valuable tips on channel bowling and using subtle variations. My strength is bowling out swingers,” a beaming Karan said.
“I am really proud of my achievements but would have been happier had Railways won on a day which was memorable for me. Yesterday, I had taken five wickets but never thought that I would be able to take all 10 wickets in an innings,” the elated youngster stated. Asked when exactly did he think that he could get 10 wickets in an innings, Karan replied: “When I got the eighth wicket, I felt that I might get 10 wickets. It was a great feeling when I got the 10th victim.
The umpires presented me with the match ball, a souvenir that I would like to treasure forever.” Karan is doing his BA Program from Sri Venkatswara College in New Delhi and is already a full-time employee of the Indian Railways.
“I am in the Ranji Trophy probables but I would not like to think too far ahead. Definitely, it is a dream to play Ranji Trophy but my job is to perform in the matches I am playing,” Karan added. Senior Railways team chief coach Abhay Sharma was effusive in his praise for the young lad.
“Obviously, it’s a great achievement. He was in the probables for the Ranji Trophy. It doesn’t happen everyday at this level (a notch below Ranji Trophy) where a bowler gets all 10 wickets. It’s easy to get 7 or 8 but for 10 wickets, you need discipline as well as a bit of luck,” Sharma said.
Brief scores: Railways: 129 all out in 44.1 overs (Taha Ali 40; Bhaja 5-31, Ghodadra 4-43) and 148 all out in 33.5 overs (NS Parab 30; Karambelkar 4-23, Ghodadra 2-23, KH Pandya 2-25) lt to Baroda: 248 all out in 72.5 overs (KH Pandya 82 n.o., AM Gupta 54, Karambelkar 32; Kiran Thakur 10-77) and 30/0 in 4.5 overs.