Anshul Kamboj backs up promise with 2/22 in first ODI at Eden Park

Anshul Kamboj produced an economical bowling display for India in the first ODI against New Zealand at Eden Park on Wednesday, returning figures of 2/22 from 10 overs as the hosts were dismissed for 185. The Haryana pacer delivered 46 dot balls during the spell and played a key role in restricting New Zealand's middle overs.

The 25-year-old's performance earned praise from captain Shubman Gill, who offered a strong endorsement during the post-match presentation. "Anshul is the kind of a bowler... I think he's tailor-made for these conditions, always nippy, trying to seam the ball, and good with the old ball," Gill said. "We felt when there's not much happening from the wicket, he can create that extra bounce and with his pace and the way both of them bowled tonight was really magnificent to watch."

Kamboj complemented the efforts of Arshdeep Singh and Gurnoor Brar, who claimed four and three wickets respectively for India. While Arshdeep and Gurnoor struck at regular intervals, Kamboj focused on disrupting New Zealand's ability to build momentum during the middle overs.

On the surface itself, Kamboj said length and discipline were more important than hunting wickets. "The wicket was offering a bit of seam movement. But it was also important to bowl good lengths to get something out of the surface. If you miss your lengths, you can go for runs," he said during the post-match press conference. "I was just trying to keep bowling in the right areas for as long as possible. There was enough assistance in the wicket if you bowled in the right areas."

Kamboj acknowledged that his earlier, expensive ODI debut had not dented his self-belief. "Basically, if you have one bad match, it doesn't define your career or determine whether you are a good or bad player. I've been doing the same things from the beginning, and I'm still doing them," he said. "So, one bad match didn't affect me too much. It only motivated me to do better, improve further and work harder."

He said he deliberately avoids external noise and concentrates on his own development. "Actually, I don't pay much attention to these things. I focus more on my cricket and think about how I can improve. I don't bother about who is thinking what about me or what people are saying. It doesn't affect me much," he said. On measuring his bowling by execution rather than runs conceded, he added: "If you want to bowl a yorker and execute it well but still concede runs, there's no problem with that. You shouldn't focus too much on the result because it won't always go in your favour," and on his role as an all-rounder he said: "For an all-rounder, it's quite simple. When you have the ball in your hand, you're a bowler. When you have the bat in your hand, you're a batter. You have to focus on those things separately," he said. "When you're batting, don't think about bowling, and when you're bowling, don't think about batting. That's the focus." He added that improving his batting remains an important part of his development, alongside continuing to work on his bowling and fielding.

With India's first-choice fast bowlers unavailable for the opening ODI, Kamboj's accuracy, ability to extract bounce and control of the scoring rate have strengthened his case for a role in the young pace attack. Gill's public endorsement further underlined the significance of Kamboj's outing for India in conditions that offered assistance to seam bowlers.