Team India will play hosts to neighbours Sri Lanka who will tour the continent for a three-match T20I series, which will be followed by a two-match Test series. BCCI announced the squad for both series on Saturday, and it was a dream come true moment for young Saurabh Kumar who earned his maiden call-up in the Test squad.
It will be interesting to see if Saurabh can find a way into the playing XI when Rohit Sharma leads out India in the purest format from March 4 onwards. Born on May 1, 1993, Saurabh made his debut in 2014 for Services in the Ranji Trophy.
The 28-year-old spin all-rounder, who hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat has represented his state at U-19 and U-22 levels previously. On his Ranji debut, Saurabh scored 45 runs against Himachal Pradesh, while also picking up a maiden wicket.
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He would later go on to represent his home state in Ranji, and in his career of 46 First-Class games so far, the left-arm all-rounder has amassed a total of 196 wickets, at a decent economy rate of 2.70. Batting wise, he has racked up a total of 1,572 runs in 63 First-Class cricket games.
Test squad – Rohit Sharma (C), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath, R Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (VC).
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 19, 2022
His best bowling figures include a seven-wicket haul, and not many people know that a young Saurabh has previously plied his trade for Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Known in the domestic circuit for his economic spells, Saurabh’s economy rate of 7.03 runs per over, saw him land a move to Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017 for his base price of INR 10 lakh, however, he didn’t get the chance to make his IPL bow.
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Similarly, Punjab Kings secured his services in 2021, for a price of INR 20 lakh, but again he couldn’t get a single game with the franchise.
Now that he’s gotten a call-up for India, hopefully the youngster will be able to give a good impression of himself, and take his career to the next level.
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