Himanshu Sangwan, a ticket collector from old Delhi, stamps a mark on history with his 78th First-Class wicket
Himanshu Sangwan, a ticket collector from old Delhi, stamps a mark on history with his 78th First-Class wicket
Himanshu Sangwan had taken 77 wickets in First-Class cricket before featuring for Railways against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy this week. The 29-year-old will add many more to that tally in the years ahead. The right-arm medium-pacer’s 78th wicket, though, will be imprinted in his memory for as long as he lives.
There aren’t too many bowlers in India’s domestic cricket landscape, after all, who can claim to have Virat Kohli among their scalps. Certainly not in the emphatic fashion that Sangwan did, nipping the ball back between bat and pad, and uprooting the off-stump when Kohli had made just six runs. That moment of reckoning arrived in front of a crowd anticipating a Kohli special added to the spectacle.
“Yes, it is definitely the most important wicket of my career. Kohli is an inspiration to cricketers in India,” Sangwan told reporters at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday.
While Kohli was a recurring victim to edging the ball outside off-stump in Australia, Sangwan found success on Friday by targeting the stumps immediately after he had been hit for a four down the ground.
“We just wanted to stick to the basics while bowling to Kohli. There was no special plan as such. All the Delhi batters like to play attacking shots. We let them commit their mistakes and get out,” he said.
What followed was an ecstatic celebration that comprised a raucous roar and a few fist pumps. “My celebration was natural. This is how I celebrate all my wickets,” he added.
Sangwan, who is employed as a senior ticket collector at the Old Delhi railway station, belongs to Charkhi Dadri in Haryana. While he spent his early life in Rajasthan, he moved to Najafgarh, a town on the outskirts of Delhi where Virender Sehwag hails from, around 15 years ago to pursue cricket seriously. He played for Delhi U-19s alongside Rishabh Pant in 2013-14 before establishing a career with Railways.
