Anshul Kamboj (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) CHENNAI: Chennai Super Kings are having an average season but medium pacer Anshul Kamboj looks to be their breakout star. With 17 scalps in nine matches at an economy rate of 7.54, including 3-32 against Mumbai Indians on Saturday, Kamboj is the spearhead of the CSK attack, both in the overs and overs. With the wickets of Robin Minze and Hardik Pandya in the 18th and 20th overs in Chepauk on Saturday, Kamboj became the first bowler this season to take 10 wickets in the death overs.The right-hand seamer treats the death of the overs as the final act, which he had rehearsed to perfection. He goes around the stumps to a great extent, especially right-handed batsmen, changes lengths according to the phase of the game and regularly lands yorkers.ČSK head coach Stephen Fleming doesn’t think Kamboja’s heroics were a surprise. “He was really good last year. He worked hard with Eric Simons (bowling coach) on the concept of death bowling and worked to master it throughout the year,” Fleming said.In the last IPL season, Kamboj took eight wickets in eight matches at an economy of 8.00. He stepped onto the biggest stage shortly after and earned his Test debut for India, but his returns against England were not strong enough to give him a long run.However, he has come back with more bite this season, moving into a central role in CSK’s pace after Khaleel Ahmed’s injury.Fleming said Kamboj worked on angles and execution in the preseason. “During pre-season he was pitching with open goals and we understood the angles – what he can and can’t do from certain sides of the goal and it worked well,” he added.India have quite a bit of cross-format cricket ahead of them after the IPL and Kamboja’s stellar show could soon push him back into the national fastbowling fold. For Kamboja, however, team performance outweighs personal milestones. Ahead of the clash against MI, he said, “My complete focus is on how to contribute to the team’s victory.”CSK go into must-win mode from Tuesday and the team will be hoping Kamboj continues.
