Better late than by no means: Koushik solely made his First-Class debut at 27.
| Photo Credit: Kiran Bakale
V. Koushik is a late bloomer. He as soon as had a company job and made his First-Class debut solely at 27, in opposition to Tamil Nadu in December 2019. And after that, he performed simply eight red-ball matches till the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy opener Punjab that started right here on Friday. With a career-best seven-wicket haul (7/41) he’s seemingly making up for misplaced time.
This course of had actually began final season when he performed 5 Ranji Trophy matches and picked up 24 wickets. In the final two Vijay Hazare Trophy campaigns, he has claimed 18 wickets every, and he had a match-haul of 5 wickets within the Duleep Trophy closing that South Zone received in July 2023.
“I am very happy with my performance,” Koushik mentioned on Friday. “I bowled well last year and was just hoping to have a good start this time. The rhythm was good and we had a good preparatory camp and everything came together.”
Karnataka has all the time been a troublesome group for a brand new quick bowler to interrupt into, with the likes of R. Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S. Aravind enjoying for a few years.
Even within the present set-up, Vidwath Kaverappa, V. Vyshak, and M. Venkatesh are backups. Koushik, although, said that he has loved the problem.
“From 22 to 26, I didn’t play a lot of matches,” the 31-year-old mentioned when requested if he might have debuted earlier. “I sat out nearly 13 to 14 matches in a row in Thimmappaiah [Memorial tournament, a red-ball preparatory competition].
“Probably a break there would have helped me. Nevertheless, a debut is a debut, at any age, and I am now enjoying this phase.”
Source: www.thehindu.com
