India vs England | Anshul Kamboj struggles as selection backfires

Manchester: India made a bold selection call for the fourth Test against England, handing a debut to young pacer Anshul Kamboj instead of picking Prasidh Krishna, and that plan backfired badly, with bowling coach Morne Morkel scrambling for answers.

The 24-year-old, who bagged five wickets in total in the two India A games prior to the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, was added to the squad suddenly on Sunday after key pacer Akash Deep was hit by a groin injury and Arshdeep Singh cut his bowling hand during a training session last week. The selectors, whose chief Ajit Agarkar was here earlier this week, felt the strapping Haryanvi, who first shot to limelight after taking all 10 wickets in an innings (10/49) against Kerala last year in a Ranji Trophy match at Lahli, could really bolster the beleaguered attack.

Not just that record-equalling performance, but Kamboj had built up a decent reputation in the domestic circuit, with coaches rating him as a good emerging talent. In 24 first-class matches, the right-armer had picked up 79 wickets at a decent average of 22.88. Chennai Super Kings, who have made a reputation of roping in young talents, signed him this season. Kamboj, in fact, played eight games for the five-time champions, bagging 8 wickets.

So the sample size was there. The decision to hand him a debut was strengthened after what the think-tank saw of him during the two training sessions where he was in the limelight. There’s a big difference in the standards between domestic and Test cricket, especially in England, and Kamboj felt the full force of it as he buckled under pressure. Firstly, the youngster struggled to bowl with pace, his average speed around 125 kmph. A statistic said some of his balls were slower than Australian part-time leg-spinner Marnus Labuschange's!

Then the lines and lengths. He often strayed down the leg-side, becoming easy fodder for the English batters. There was a time on the third evening when lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj hurt themselves and were off the field for treatment, and Kamboj had to share the new ball with Shardul Thakur. Both Kamboj and Thakur fluffed the lines, forcing a fatigued Bumrah and Siraj to carry the workload in the final session. It was a baptism by fire and Morkel begged for some sympathy.

“Anshul, you know, that's international cricket. Unfortunately, there's no place to hide. We know we support him as best as we can, in conversations, but it's also a good learning experience for him. And I think everybody in the dressing room is constantly telling him to keep going and supporting him, and that's part of his journey now in international cricket, is to get a taste for it and know, moving forward, what he needs to do to play at this level.”

Morkel though struggled to find an answer on why Kamboj couldn’t crank up the pace. “I wish I could give you that answer, because I would have told him then how to bowl quicker. But he arrived here, he bowled well in the nets, and then obviously we went with him. Why are speeds so low? I mean, that is something that we're working on. In the India A games, he was definitely quicker, and some of the games back home, he was definitely higher, I suppose.”

Test cricket can be brutal, and Kamboj felt it. He needs to be backed and not left to fend for himself considering a whole future lies ahead of him. Such bold selections can go anyway, but management also needs to cop some flak for not picking Prasidh, as he just followed the team order of bowling and ended up conceding runs.