Jharkhand left-arm spinner Manishi Kumar hopeful of India A selection

Jamshedpur: Jharkhand’s promising cricketer Manishi Kumar’s career took a better turn when the left-arm spinner earned a rare feat in first-class cricket last week.Playing for East Zone, the 21-year-old bowler from the state scalped six wickets in the first innings of their Duleep Trophy quarterfinal against North Zone in Bengaluru from Aug 28-31.In the season-opening domestic meet, Manishi dismissed six North batters giving away 111 runs. Significantly, all his dismissals were leg-before, which included North openers Shubham Khajuria (26), Ankit Kumar (30), followed by Yash Dhull (39) at No. 3, middle order bat Kanhaiya Wadhawan (76) and tailenders Auqib Nabi (44) and Harsit Rana (7).

It is only the sixth instance of a bowler taking record six lbw dismissals in first-class cricket and a first-ever by an Indian.

Prior to Manishi, the five prominent cricketers who have earned six lbw haul in first-class cricket are Mark Ilott (1995), Ollie Robinson (2021), Chris Wright (2021), Chaminda Vaas (2005) and Tabish Khan (2011).With just nine first-class matches to his tally in three years after debut, Manishi had a good season in Ranji Trophy, too, in 2024-25, where he took 22 wickets at an average of 27.22. However, his career-best figures of 6-111 in the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal, has come as a booster for his cricketing career.

“I am keenly looking forward to my selection to India A team. Presently, my focus is on the upcoming Ranji Trophy season,” Manishi said on the sidelines of his felicitation here on Thursday.The talented spinner earlier represented India Under-19 in a four-day match against South Africa in 2019. In that match he took seven wickets, including a 5-58 innings figure at an average of 12.57.The prospective cricketer said legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Shahbaz Nadeem are his favourites. DAV Public School, Bistupur, here, which is Manishi’s alma mater, felicitated him for his remarkable achievement on Thursday. “Manishi’s feat is an achievement for the whole state,” said school principal Pragya Singh, heaping praise on its former student.