Saurabh Kumar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Saurabh Kumar

• Saurabh Kumar is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a bowling all-rounder for the Uttar Pradesh state team and Punjab Kings in the IPL.

• Saurabh Kumar’s father was a Kabaddi player in his village Baruat. He couldn’t take sports full time due to a lack of sports facilities.

• Saurabh Kumar used to travel to Delhi from his village for his training at National Stadium. His practice started at 3 pm, so he had to take a passenger train from Baraut to Delhi, then catch a bus from there to the stadium.

• Saurabh Kumar’s family was very supportive of him during his training days. His father used to accompany him to the stadium from his village. His mother worked really hard for him and sacrificed a lot for him.

• Saurabh Kumar started his journey in domestic cricket playing for the Services team after he joined the Indian Air Force in 2014.

• Saurabh Kumar made his first-class debut for Services against Uttar Pradesh in Ranji Trophy in the 2014/15 season. He picked up 1 wicket from his 31-over spell for his side.

• Saurabh Kumar had an impressive season with the Services team in the 2014/15 Ranji Trophy. He picked up 17 wickets for the team and amassed 304 runs from seven matches.

• He was offered a spot in the Uttar Pradesh state team due to his remarkable season debut season with the Services team. He bagged a ten-wicket haul on his debut for the Uttar Pradesh team.

• Saurabh Kumar has produced some noteworthy performances in first-class cricket. In 44 first-class matches, he has picked up 192 wickets at an average of 23.4 with an economy of 2.70 runs per over. He has 16 five-wicket and 6 ten-wicket hauls to his name in first-class cricket. He was the leading wicket-taker for Uttar Pradesh, with 23 wickets in four matches 2017-18 Ranji Trophy.

  

• Saurabh Kumar picked up a staggering 14 wickets for Uttar Pradesh against Haryana in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy in December 2018. He picked up 7 wickets each in both 1st and 2nd innings of the match, giving away a total of 65 runs. He won the Player of the Match award for his remarkable performance against Haryana at Rohtak. It was the 2nd best bowling figures by a bowler for Uttar Pardesh in Ranji Trophy.

• Saurabh Kumar has scored 1549 runs in his 44 first-class matches at an average of 29.78 runs per match. He has two centuries and eight half-centuries to his name in first-class cricket. His highest individual score in first-class is 133 runs.

• Saurabh Kumar made his List-A debut for Uttar Pradesh against Himachal Pradesh in Vijay Hazare Trophy on 10 December 2015 at Rajkot. He picked up two wickets in that match, giving away 36 runs from his 10 overs at an economy of 3.60 runs per over.

• Saurabh Kumar has played in 25 List-A matches and picked up 37 wickets, with his best figure in this format being 6/25.

• Saurabh Kumar made his T20 debut for Uttar Pardesh against Services in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on 8 January 2016 at Cuttack. He picked up two wickets in that game from his four-over spell and bowled at an economy of  5.75 runs per over.

  

• He has picked up 21 wickets from his 28 T20 matches, and his best bowling figure in this respective format is 5/28.

• Saurabh Kumar received his maiden IPL contract by the Rising Pune Supergiants in the 2017 season. He was bought for 10 lakhs INR in that season, but he didn’t make his debut for the side instead spent most of his time on the bench.

• Saurabh Kumar was named in the India Blue squad for the 2018-19 Duleep Trophy in July 2018. He was the leading wicket-taker in the competition, picking up 19 wickets in three matches. He received the call-up again for the 2019-20 Duleep Trophy in August 2019.

• He was one of the five net-bowler picked up by the BCCI for India’s Test squad for a home series against the England team.

• Punjab Kings bought Saurabh Kumar in the IPL auction 2021 at a base price of 20 lakh INR.