After spending the majority of the time on the field for Delhi on the opening day, Virat Kohli‘s Ranji Trophy return with the bat ended in a jiffy. The star batter pulled the crowd to the stadium as the fans were excited to see him to play for his state team for the first time in 12 years. But Himanshu Sangwan, a fast bowler of Railways, had other ideas.
He castled the 36-year-old sending his stumps for a walk and celebrated it in the best way possible as his teammates were also delighted with the dismissal. Kohli scored only six runs off 15 deliveries that included a straight drive in the same over he got out. In fact, Sangwan had conceded the boundary ball before dismissing the former India skipper and got the better of him with a brilliant inswinging delivery.
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Interestingly, Sangwan is from Delhi and was born in 1995 in Najafgarh. He played for Delhi U19 team but made his senior team for Railways during the 2019-20 season. So far, he has played 23 first-class, 17 List A and 7 T20 matches in domestic cricket, picking up 77, 21 and five wickets across all formats.
He is specifically playing red-ball cricket for Railways this season having last featured in white-ball formats in December 2023. In the ongoing season of the Ranji Trophy, Sangwan has picked up 16 wickets so far including Kohli’s and will be keen on finishing the season on a high.
Another interesting fact about Himanshu Sangwan is that he was a ticket collector previously and was posted at New Delhi station as well. He has a habit of picking up big wickets in his career having dismissed Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw during his debut season against Mumbai. He had also picked up a five-wicket haul in the second innings in the same game.
Both Rahane and Shaw were at the peak form with the bat then. Sangwan had a stint at the MRF Pace Foundation early in his career and at the time, he credited Australia legend Glenn McGrath for his success. “I take inspiration from Australia legend Glenn McGrath. He is my idol. I learnt a lot from McGrath during my stint at the MRF Pace Foundation. I was there for a short camp in March (2019). He used to watch my videos and tell me the areas where I should improve. He is a legend of the game. He told me one thing – ‘when in trouble, go to the basics,” Sangwan had said then while speaking to Times of India.