England v India 2014: 10 things to know about Pankaj Singh, India's latest Test debutant
It is extremely unlikely to see a 29-year-old bowler making his Test debut for the Indian cricket team, even more so when he is a pacer, as the nation is used to fast-forwarding talents and doesn’t believe in giving players past their peak a go in the international arena, unlike say Australia or England. Making his longer format debut, against England at Rose Bowl, Southampton, Pankaj Singh, on the wrong side of 20s, is an exception.
Although he didn’t pick up any wickets in the first day on what appeared to be a very flat deck. Pankaj did impress the cricketing world with his skills, beating the bat on a number of occasions, coming agonisingly close to picking up his first international wicket only to be denied by a dropped catch once and then the umpire.
A domestic veteran: Pankaj Singh, in his 10-year-old first-class career, has taken 300 wickets from 77 matches and has now become the most experienced pace bowler to make his debut for India. He first represented Rajasthan in the year 2004, against Services in the Ranji Trophy. Dilip Doshi, a left-arm spinner, had 494 first-class wickets before making his international debut in 1979.
ODI debut: Captained by Suresh Raina on his ODI debut, against Sri Lanka at Harare in 2010, the right-arm seamer went wicketless and conceded 45 runs in his 7 overs.
Bench warmer during India’s tour of Australia 2007/08: Despite making the squad for the tour Down Under, Pankaj Singh couldn’t break into the playing 11 and was sidelined since then for reasons unknown.
Questioning national selectors: Despite racking up plenty of wickets season after season, the Sultanpur pacer wasn’t considered good enough for a permanent spot in the team; Frustrated at the treatment, Pankaj openly questioned the selectors in an exclusive interview to ESPNcricinfo: “I wanted to know what are the things I should do, what is going wrong with me”.
Playing a crucial role in Rajasthan’s twin Ranji triumphs: He picked up 73 wickets in two seasons to help Rajasthan lift back-to-back Ranji Trophy titles, in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Even thought about giving up cricket: Pankaj Singh, after the 2013-14 Ranji season, tried to clarify with Roger Binny, one of the five selectors who was present at the ground to watch the last Rajasthan match of the season, whether he had any scope for a national selection so that he could plan his future. “I will play maximum of one or two years then (if they had said no). Simple. Why would I like to continue to play if I am not going to play for India. I am not going to play just for money,” he said.
T20 struggles: Being a tall bowler, Pankaj’s strengths lie in hitting the deck hard, extracting bounce from it and moving the ball around at a nippy pace: non-existent on most subcontinental shorter format wickets. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a surprise that his IPL career is a failure with 11 wickets from 20 matches stretching over 5 seasons. He was with Rajasthan Royals for the inaugural season before switching to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Overall, he has 25 wickets from 32 T20 matches.
A strong build: At 6’4, Pankaj is not just tall but muscular, as well.
Ends a long wait for Rajasthan: Pankaj is the first Rajasthan representative in the Indian Test team in about 37 years. Parthasarathy Sharma is the last cricketer from the state to play Test cricket for the country. He played 5 Tests between 1974-77.
Born in Uttar Pradesh: The pacer was born in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He then switched to Rajasthan.
Stats input taken from renowned statisticians Mohandas Menon and Bharat Seervi.