Siddharth Kaul registered his best bowling figures in FC cricket against UP at Hyderabad

The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium witnessed 19 wickets fall on the 3rd day of the Ranji Trophy 2016-17 game between Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The first two days were good for batting and Punjab were looking to take on a big lead before UP picked 7 wickets for 75 runs in the morning to take a 16-run lead from nowhere.

But the happiness didn’t last long for UP as a superb spell of bowling from Punjab pacer Siddharth Kaul broke through the Uttar Pradesh batting with a 6-wicket haul to clean them up for just 95. Siddharth’s figures in 2nd innings read 12-2-27-6, his career-best figures in first-class cricket overhauling the previous best of 6/57 vs Bengal in this very season.

When asked if it the pitch that led to the dramatic change in the course of the game, Siddharth Kaul told CricTracker: “I don’t think pitch has changed much. It was all about my approach towards my target of getting wickets for my team and to give 110% in each innings. So I was just putting in that.”

He is currently the 2nd leading wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy with 27 wickets on his name in the 5 matches he played so far. In the first innings of this game, Kaul gave just 54 runs in 23 overs but got only one wicket. Taking about variable performances in the two innings, he said, “It is a part of the game. Sometimes you get wickets, sometimes you don’t. But you have to only just come in thinking a good way that you have to come and bowl well for the team.”

Also read- I find myself in a space where I really enjoy my bowling: Ravi Ashwin

Alongside UP, Punjab too lost 9 wickets on the day including 7 in the morning session. When asked whether their batsmen also struggled on this track on day 3, the 26-year old said, “We all had a plan on how to bowl in the right areas. We were not thinking about the total we have to bowl them out for. I think UP were also following the same, which produced the wickets in the morning.”

After the Lunch break, he got Umang Sharma caught behind in his 3rd over. In his next over, he trapped Sarfaraz Khan and Samarth Singh in front of stumps in a space of 3 balls to reduce UP to 14/3. In his 2nd spell, he cleaned up Dwivedi, Imtiaz and Mishra to bundle out Uttar Pradesh to a low total.

Taking about his favorite wicket in this game, Siddharth said, “All the 6 wickets were my favorite. I don’t consider that this one is my favorite. For every wicket, I was putting my full efforts and I was thinking that I have to help my team to win.”

Talking about bowling at his IPL home ground, the Sunrisers Hyderabad paceman said, “I was coming over here for a couple of years now and even before that when I was playing junior cricket. I played a lot of cricket at this ground. So I know the pitch and conditions here very well.”

Also Watch: Virat Kohli bats for pollution control in Delhi

Siddharth Kaul has played for India U19 team in the 2008 World Cup and also for Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL. When asked about the toughest batsman he ever faced, Siddharth said, “There are many batters that I have bowled to but I don’t think about there being the toughest. Sometimes you have to bowl in good areas to trouble the great batsmen. When you don’t bowl well, everyone will smash you everywhere. It might be a good batsman or an average batsman, you have to keep bowling in good areas.”

Speaking about the neutral venues in Ranji Trophy, Siddharth felt it doesn’t matter for him as far as he is doing well on any pitch. “I don’t think neutral venues make difference like playing home or away. If you are playing on Patta track (flat track), you have to bowl somewhere else. If you are bowling on green top or turning tracks, you have to bowl accordingly. My aim and duty is to bowl well for my team which I am doing for the last 4-5 years.”