The BCCI on Saturday announced the Test squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka set to take place in March. There has been number of surprises in squad. While Rohit Sharma has been named new Test captain, a debutant has also been included into the squad, and his name is Saurabh Kumar.
The Indian cricket team is set to play Sri Lanka in a 2 match Test series following the 3 match T20I series against them, which commmences on the 25th February.
After Virat Kohli stepping from his position as India’s Test captain following the South Africa series, Rohit Sharma has been named the new captain of the team, which means that Rohit Sharma will now lead India in formats of the game.
Who is Saurabh Kumar ?
Along with that, Pujara, Rahane and Ishant Sharma have all been dropped from the team, while a debutant has been included in the squad, the left-hand orthodox bowler Saurabh Kumar. Now, many are wondering who is Saurabh Kumar, here’s what you need to know about him.
This is the first time that the selectors have included Saurabh Kumar in the Test team, thus it is natural that many people may not even know him. It must be noted that Saurabh was included as a standby player in the Test team that toured South Africa towards the end of last year.
But this time, he has managed to make it to the 18-man squad. Saurabh Kumar represents Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. 28-year-old Saurabh is an all-rounder, his biggest strength is his left-arm spin bowling. He has impressive record in his first-class career.
Saurabh is originally from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh and his family lives in Meerut. Saurabh’s father was working in All India Radio and is now retired from his position, while his mother is a housewife.
Saurabh has been playing cricket since the age of 16. In the year 2014, he made his debut against Himachal Pradesh while playing for the Army team. After which, he became a part of the Uttar Pradesh state team from the year 2015.
Saurabh Kumar has played 46 first-class matches in his career so far, during which he has taken 196 wickets along with scoring 1572 runs, which is really a commandable feat.
During his career, he has taken five wickets in an innings 16 times and 10 or more wickets in a match six times. His best performance in an innings is 7/32 and best performance in a match is 14/65. He has also scored 2 centuries and 8 fifties and his highest score is 133 runs.
In List A cricket, he has taken 37 wickets in 25 matches and has 173 runs to his name. In T20 cricket, he has scored 148 runs in 33 matches played so far and has taken 24 wickets. He also was a member of the Punjab Kings team in the 2021 IPL, but didn’t feature for them.