The story behind J&K spinner Vanshaj’s Ranji Trophy debut

Left-arm spinner Vanshaj Sharma claims maiden five-for on Ranji Trophy debut for Jammu & Kashmir against Pondicherry.

It’s extraordinary for a bowler to claim his maiden five-for on his Ranji Trophy debut. That’s what left-arm spinner Vanshaj Sharma has done.

He picked up five for 74 for Jammu & Kashmir versus Pondicherry on the first day of the elite Group-D match in the sixth round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy at the Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP) Siechem ground here on Friday.

But he didn’t know that he was to play the match.

“I didn’t know (about his debut). I reached last night (Thursday night) only. So, they told me this morning that I was playing!

“I was playing the C.K. Nayudu (Trophy) match with Baroda in Jammu. That finished in the evening the day before yesterday (Wednesday). Yesterday (Thursday) morning, I left Jammu and reached here at around 10 p.m. I just came to the hotel, checked in, and slept. And then, today morning, I started playing this,” said the 20-year-old after the first day’s play on Friday.

He had picked up five for 65 versus Baroda, and been exceptional for Jammu & Kashmir with 27 wickets (three five-wicket hauls) from eight innings in the ongoing BCCI U-23 men’s Col. C.K. Nayudu Trophy, that he’s been called up for the Ranji squad. He’d especially been instrumental in his team’s innings win over Pondicherry in Jammu with bowling figures of five for 33 and seven for 54!

So, he was not given any big advice but asked to do what he’d been doing when he received his cap on Friday morning. “I received my cap from captain Shubham Khajuria. Everyone was just saying, ‘Do what you have been doing.’’