Indian teenager takes all 10 wickets in an innings

In what comes as a rare feat in the game, an Indian teen cricketer has taken all 10 wickets in an innings. 18-year-old Rex Rajkumar Singh, hailing from Manipur, grabbed eyeballs after recording exceptional figures of 10 wickets for 11 runs in the Cooch Behar Trophy. The left-arm medium pacer, who debuted in the Ranji Trophy this season, also returned with miserly figures as six of his 9.5 overs proved to be maidens.

The four-day tournament, which is one of the breeding grounds for India’s under-19 cricketers, saw the record being set when Arunachal Pradesh locked horns with Manipur at the Rural Development Trust Stadium in Anantapur.

The day started with Manipur at 89-3 in its pursuit of Arunachal Pradesh’s first innings score of 136. The team, however, lost track and was skittled for 122 runs, trailing its opponent by 16 runs.

Arunachal Pradesh, who would have thought of capitalizing on the slender lead, were in for a daunting spell of bowling from Manipur’s Rex Rajkumar Singh.

The young talent wreaked havoc as he ran through Arunachal Pradesh’s batting order in the game’s third innings. As per icc-cricket.com, the youngster accounted for five bowled dismissals, two LBWs, two caught behind and one caught dismissal, emerging as the chief destroyer as the opponents were restricted to a meagre total of 36 runs.

Singh’s terrific 10-wicket haul came in the follow up to his heroics in the first innings, when he scalped a fifer, taking his total tally to 15 wickets in the match.

The effort turned to be decisive for Manipur as the team cruised home to victory while chasing a modest target of 55 runs in the fourth innings.

The scores: Arunachal Pradesh 1st Innings: 138 in 54.5 overs, Manipur 1st Innings: 122 in 49.1 overs, Arunachal Pradesh 2nd Innings: 36 in 18.5 overs (Rex Rajkumar Singh 10 wickets for 11 runs), Manipur 2nd Innings:55 for no loss in 7.5 overs.