Hailing from district Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, right-arm pacer Kuldeep Sen got to make his ODI debut on Sunday against Bangladesh in the 1st ODI of the series at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.
In the absence of senior speedsters Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, both of whom are injured, the 26-year-old Kuldeep Sen got the opportunity to play today against Bangladesh. He got his ODI debut cap from skipper Rohit Sharma.
Sen was selected in the side over the other pacer sensation, Umran Malik, and partnered with Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar in the line-up. Sen was, in fact, not selected initially in the squad, but came in as an injury replacement for Yash Dayal.
A special moment! ☺️
Congratulations to Kuldeep Sen as he is set to make his India debut! 👏 👏
He receives his #TeamIndia cap from the hands of captain @ImRo45. 👍 👍#BANvIND pic.twitter.com/jxpt3TgC5O
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 4, 2022
Kuldeep Sen had hogged the limelight earlier in the IPL 2022.
Picked by the Rajasthan Royals, Sen impressed everyone with his lengths – he is one of the few Indian young pacers who can hit the deck hard and generate bounce at awkward heights for the batters, in the same category as Prasidh Krishna and Mohsin Khan.
Sen snapped up 8 wickets in 7 matches in the IPL 2022, which included a terrific 4-for against RCB, dismissing Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Harshal Patel.
His breakthrough tournament came recently in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022. The Madhya Pradesh pacer picked up 18 wickets in just 6 matches at a superb average of only 12 and strike rate of 14. Kuldeep Sen bagged a five-wicket haul vs Punjab and two four-wicket hauls -against Odisha and Uttarakhand- in the latest edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
His tally of 18 wickets was the joint-second most in the tournament, but he had played only 6 matches while Koushik of Karnataka played 9 for his 18 wickets and table-leader Unadkat played 10 for his 19 scalps.
Overall, Sen has taken 25 wickets in 13 List-A games at an average of 23. These performances from the youngster would have made the decision for the management easier when selecting between Sen and Malik.
