Anshul Kamboj

Anshul Kamboj is the kind of cricketer who shows up in a stat-feed before he shows up in a highlight reel. Twenty-four years old, right-arm medium, came up through Haryana, currently with Chennai Super Kings after a switch from Mumbai Indians. If you haven't been watching, you've missed about eighteen months of quiet, consistent improvement.

The numbers that matter

Fifteen wickets in his last five matches. Strike rate under 18. Economy under 7.5 in the powerplay, which is where CSK has been using him — and where most medium-pacers get eaten alive. The trick isn't pace (he's clocking around 130 kph on a good day, modest by IPL standards). It's seam position and length discipline. He hits the same spot ball after ball until the batter has to play.

The list-A numbers from his Haryana days are even better. He took 49 wickets in the 2023-24 Ranji season at an average of 18. Anyone watching domestic cricket knew this was coming. The IPL just took an extra season to notice.

For anyone wanting to actually try to bowl like this in their backyard, the gear basics matter. A real leather cricket ball seams differently than the cheap synthetic ones, and you can't learn line and length from a tennis ball. Pair it with a decent pair of bowling shoes with spikes if you have grass to bowl on.

What makes him different from the other Indian seamers

He bats. Not as the ninth-place tail-ender who blocks for thirty balls; he can score. Two seasons ago in the Ranji Trophy he had a 96 not out chasing 280. That batting matters more in T20 cricket than in tests — a bowler who can give you 15 runs in three overs at the death is worth a place in the XI by himself.

The other thing: he can bowl with the old ball. Most Indian seamers in the IPL are powerplay specialists who go for runs once the field spreads. Kamboj's economy in overs 11-15 is comparable to his powerplay number. That's rare.

If you're picking up a cricket bat for someone who wants to actually play, English willow is the only meaningful price tier — Kashmir willow looks the same and plays like a 2x4. Spend the money once.

Where his career probably goes

India A is the next obvious step. The full Indian setup has Bumrah, Siraj, and a queue of express-pace bowlers ahead of him, so the path to a Test cap is narrow. The white-ball international door is more open — particularly with the T20 World Cup cycle coming around, a death-overs specialist who can also bat is exactly the kind of player India needs.

Realistically he'll be a CSK fixture for another three or four IPL seasons, get capped for India in a bilateral T20 series, and either kick on to bigger things or settle into a long, useful career as one of the league's reliable seamers. Either outcome is a good story.

What to watch in his next match

Two things. First, what length he bowls in the first over of his spell — short, full, or back of a length tells you which way the wicket is playing and how the captain wants him used. Second, what he does in the 18th over. If he's still on at the death, it means MS Dhoni trusts him absolutely. That's the highest compliment in Indian cricket. A live stream and a comfortable padded stadium chair beat watching from the couch through a phone.

He's not the star yet. He will be.