Who is Saurabh Kumar? - The spin all-rounder named in India's Test squad for Sri Lanka series

It is a dream come true moment for 28-year old Saurabh Kumar, who has been named in the India’s squad to square off against Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series at home. It would be exciting to see if Kumar, a spin all-rounder, gets a game under the leadership of India’s new Test skipper Rohit Sharma.

Born on May 1, 1993 Kumar hails from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. The left-arm spinner has played domestic cricket for UP at U-19 and U-22 levels. He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Services in 2014 against Himachal Pradesh. The all-rounder scored 45 runs in the match and took one wicket as well.

Later, Kumar switched to his home side UP. In his brief career of 46 first-class matches, the left-arm all-rounder has taken a total of 196 wickets going at an economy of 2.70. His best figure in an innings include a seven-wicket haul as well.

Saurabh Kumar has been a part of Punjab Kings and Rising Supergiants in IPL

Known for his economic bowling spells, Kumar’s economy rate in List-A format is 4.38. In T20 cricket, he spends around 7.03 runs per over. As a result, Rising Pune Supergiants purchased him for INR 10 lakh at IPL auction in 2017. However, he didn’t got a game in the entire season. Similarly, the Punjab Kings bagged him in 2021 IPL auction at a price of INR 20 lakh, but Kumar didn’t get a game in that season as well.

Talking about his batting ability, the left-handed batter has scored 1,572 runs in 63 innings in First-Class cricket. He also has two centuries and eight fifties under his name. Kumar made his List-A debut for UP againsr Himachal Pradesh on December 10, 2015.

He bowled a decent spell of 2/36 in his 10 overs, which helped Uttar Pradesh beat Himachal Pradesh by seven wickets. In his List-A career thus far, Kumar has managed to scalp 37 wickets in 24 innings. His aggregate in this format has been 173 runs in 16 innings.