14 Interesting facts about Pankaj Singh

Not many people remember the name of Pankaj Singh now, but would only be surprised to know the tall fast bowler has already played a couple of Test matches for India. Pankaj is one of the most prolific fast bowlers in the Indian domestic circuit and among the consistent ones too. He is not a new face in domestic cricket. Here are some interesting facts about the Rajasthan pacer.

1. Early life:

Pankaj Singh was born on 6 May 1985 at Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. He spent the early days of his life in Uttar Pradesh.

2. Not selected in University team:

He was vying for a spot in Oudh University team during his college days. Despite performing well in the college matches, he wasn’t picked up in the squad. He had then made his mind to join the army. But he soon moved to Jaipur to pursue his cricket dreams.

3. Early Cricket: first-class debut:

Pankaj made giant strides performing at the U19 level which paved way for his selection to the India A team a few years later. He made his first-class debut in the 2003-04 season against Services and played for the Rajasthan side.

4. Taking Rajasthan to the finals:

In the 2006 Ranji Season, he was influential with the ball in taking Rajasthan to the finals of the Plate league. He picked up 21 wickets at an average of 20.95.

5. Excelling with the India A side:

In 2007, he was part of India A’s twin tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya, and a total of 18 wickets in the unofficial Tests and ODIs in Kenya earned him a spot for the home series against South Africa A. He soon earned a national team call-up.

6. Picked up in the Test squad:

With S. Sreesanth and Munaf Patel injured, he was selected in the Indian test cricket squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series of 2007-08 in Australia but was not selected to play.

7. ODI debut:

He got another breakthrough when he was in the Indian ODI squad for the tri-series in Zimbabwe in 2010. Playing against Sri Lanka, he bowled 7 overs and gave away 45 runs with no wicket to his name. It remains to be the only ODI that he has played so far.

8. Test Cap by MS Dhoni:

He was handed his debut test cap by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. This perhaps remains to be his only good memory from his Test debut. Pankaj became 282nd player to represent India in Test matches.

9. The infamous Test debut:

He made his test debut vs England at the Ageas Bowl in the 3rd Test of the series in 2014 after Ishant Sharma was ruled out with Injury. He was unlucky not to have got a wicket as Ravindra Jadeja dropped Alastair Cook off his bowling. Pankaj achieved a unique record of being the most expensive bowler in test debut without a single wicket. He conceded 179 runs without picking up a wicket.

10. Finally gets the wicket:

His maiden wicket came in his second match and with his 416th ball when he dismissed Joe Root on 77. He also dismissed Jos Buttler later in the innings.

11. IPL Career:

He was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. He was later a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the next season. He hasn’t played the IPL since then.

12. Second from Rajasthan:

He is the first Rajasthan player to play Test cricket for India since Parthasarathy Sharma who played five Tests between 1974 and 1977.

13. Major Teams:

The various teams that Pankaj has represented so far are- India, Central Zone, India Green, Rajasthan, Rajasthan Cricket Association President’s XI, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore.

14. More than the stats:

Heis far better bowler than his international career stats suggest. He was only unlucky to have failed to perform in the limited opportunities that he got. With over a decade of experience in domestic cricket, Pankaj Singh has 361 wickets in 90 first-class matches at an average just over 25.