Ranji Trophy | I am enjoying this phase of my career, says Karnataka’s Koushik after career-best seven-for

Late bloomer HUBBALLI V. Koushik made his First-Class debut at 27 & is now making up for lost time with career-best 7/41 in Ranji Trophy opener.

V. Koushik is a late bloomer. He once had a corporate job and made his First-Class debut only at 27, against Tamil Nadu in December 2019. And after that, he played just eight red-ball matches until the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy opener Punjab that began here on Friday. With a career-best seven-wicket haul (7/41) he is seemingly making up for lost time.

This process had in fact started last season when he played five Ranji Trophy matches and picked up 24 wickets. In the last two Vijay Hazare Trophy campaigns, he has claimed 18 wickets each, and he had a match-haul of five wickets in the Duleep Trophy final that South Zone won in July 2023.

“I am very happy with my performance,” Koushik said 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 always been a tough team for a new fast bowler to break into, with the likes of R. Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S. Aravind playing for many years.

Even in the current set-up, Vidwath Kaverappa, V. Vyshak, and M. Venkatesh are backups. Koushik, though, stated that he has enjoyed the challenge.

“From 22 to 26, I didn’t play a lot of matches,” the 31-year-old said when asked if he could 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.”