A couple of years ago, C.T.K. Nazil took nine wickets in an innings in an inter-KCA-academy match. On Wednesday at Perinthalmanna, he did even better.
Opening the bowling for Kannur, he took all the 10 wickets of Malappuram in the North Zone (under-19) inter-District cricket championship. And did all the damage in one devastating spell of swing bowling. His figures read 9.4-4-12-10, as the host, batting first, was dismissed for a paltry 26.
“It was after taking my seventh wicket that I began to think of the ten-wicket haul,” Nazil told The Hindu . “This is of course something you could never have imagined.”
Swinging itHe said the conditions had helped on this day. “Since play begun at 7.15, because of the extreme heat, I could get some swing,” he said.
“But it was only in my fourth over that I got my first wicket. I was able to in-swing the ball well.”
Not surprisingly, he got four of his wickets through lbw, and bowled three batsmen. “My focus has always been on swing,” the 18-year-old said. “Bhuvneshwar Kumar is my favourite bowler.”
