India pacer Siddharth Kaul rues being forgotten

In Indian cricket, stories of failure are as galore as those of success. Karun Nair, for instance, is the only India batter to have slammed a triple ton in Tests other than Virender Sehwag but not many have remembered him since the heroics. There are several such similar stories and one of them is of Siddharth Kaul. In 2018, the eight-arm pacer earned his maiden call-up to the national team. But after appearing for only three T20 internationals and as many one-day internationals till February 2019, he got sidelined.

Now 31, Kaul recently spoke with Sports Yaari and said during the interaction that limelight of the Indian Premier League and limited televised coverage of domestic cricket in India has seen several performances going unnoticed, including his own.

“Domestic cricket should be the criteria because some players who can’t play the IPL, they have such outstanding performances in domestic cricket. They aren’t included in any tour. I am quarantining right now, else I would have been playing the Ranji Trophy.

28 wickets in five matches, yet Siddharth Kaul got no call

“If you look at my track record last year, I played 5 matches, and I had taken 28 wickets, out of which there were 3 five-wicket hauls and a hat-trick. On a turning track, I had grabbed 2 five-wicket-hauls, one on a green top. Yet, no one paid attention. I didn’t even get selected for India A,” Kaul, who got picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL 2022 auction recently, said.
However, Kaul, who played with Virat Kohli in the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, also realises that irrespective of the outcome, he has to perform well. The man has been plagued by injuries but yet he is not willing to give up yet.

“My job is to perform. If I do that, deep down, I will have the satisfaction that I did well. It is the selector’s job to pick or not pick me. I will be happy knowing that I did my job. Yes, if I don’t do my job well and then criticise then that is foolishness. I will keep performing because it was on the basis on my performance itself that I got into the Indian team,” Kaul, who has 237 first-class and 170 List A wickets, said.

The speedster also said that he had no godfather and nor a well-wisher who would seek his promotion.

“No one said ‘look at Siddharth Kaul’ when I was performing. There was no air about me. I performed and only then did I become a candidate and was picked for the tour of England,” the Punjab-born player said.