Siddarth Kaul

Punjab's Siddarth Kaul was entrusted with the task of bowling the final over by his then skipper Virat Kohli against South Africa in Malaysia, where India won the under-19 World Cup for the second time.

Rising from the age group level cricket with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, the first thing which comes to mind about Siddharth Kaul is his animated celebrations after winning the 2008 U 19 World Cup. I the final, Kaul bowled a brilliant final over after he was entrusted with the most difficult job by the then skipper Virat Kohli. He graduated into a good death overs bowler and finished with 10 wickets in 5 games to top the bowling charts for India alongside Ravindra Jadeja. 

Before his match-winning exploits in the U 19 World Cup, Kaul had already made his mark in the domestic circuit when he bagged a 5 wicket haul against Odisha in his debut game back in 2007. He was a pretty impressive customer from a young age but just like most fast bowlers, his progress was derailed by a string of injuries. 

Despite making his domestic debut in 2007, he failed to establish himself at the first-class level and it was only in 2012 that Kaul took the responsibility of the bowling attack of Punjab. Following his good run in the domestic circuit, Kaul was drafted into the Delhi Daredevils squad for the 2013 and 2014 IPL. He failed to make an impression and was released by Delhi. He was then acquired by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2016 Auctions. However, he had to warm the benches for the season and his moment of brilliance came in the next season. 

He proved to be a perfect foil for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and went onto bag 16 wickets in the season. He played 2nd fiddle to Bhuvi but his camaraderie with the Meerut bowler paid rich dividends for SRH. The year 2018 paved the way for an India call up after he proved his worth with the ball. He earned the tag of death over specialist and ended with 21 wickets, the joint highest taker for SRH. 

He was soon drafted into the Indian limited-overs team for the Ireland and England tour in 2018. He made his ODI debut against England and has gone onto play 3 ODI’s so far. However, he is still wicketless and will look to correct that record once he gets a chance to play for India again. He has also played 3 T20I’s bagging 4 wickets.
It was owing to his ability to bowl exceptional knuckleballs and Yorker that Siddharth Kaul came into the prominence. However, in the recent past, Kaul has failed to impress and has become predictable with his lengths.