When the Gujarat Lions included their 20-year-old mystery spinner Shivil Kaushik in the playing XI in their last game against the Rising Pune Supergiants in the IPL 2016, the young man raised quite a few eyebrows with his unique bowling action which has uncanny similarities with the former South African spinner Paul Adams.
The unorthodox spinner was picked up by the Gujarat franchise in this year’s auction for a mere Rs. 10 lakh. The spinner in his debut match went wicketless and conceded 32 runs in his 3 overs but he grabbed the attention of many with his unusual bowling style.
The debutant could have got the wicket of Steve Smith also had he not bowled a no-ball. Smith went on to make a fine century in the game.
Well, if you want to know about this new mystery spinner, here are the top 10 facts to know about Shivil Kaushik:
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1) Shivil Kaushik was born on 9 July 1995 and hails from Gurdaspur, Punjab. His family moved to Bangalore 15 years ago.
2) Based in Richmond Town, he attended his schooling at the Cathedral School. He is currently pursuing a B.Com at the St. Joseph’s College of Commerce in Bangalore.
3) At the age of 9, he joined the cricket academy at National Aerospace Laboratories ground at Old Airport Road in Bengaluru. He was coached by the former Indian wicketkeeper, Sadanand Vishwanath.
4) Apart from cricket, a young Shivil used to play basketball and hockey at school.
5) Kaushik caught the eye of many talent scouts with that whippy action for the Hubli Tigers in the Karnataka Premier League.
6) Kaushik’s Hubli Tigers coach Anutosh Poll revealed that the reason which forced them to buy Kaushik for the Karnataka Premier League was not just his unorthodox bowling style but the inability of batsmen to pick him. Anutosh recalled an incident when he completely bamboozled Stuart Binny in a game
7) His action almost resembles that of the South African Paul Adams whose bowling was famously described by a journalist as being like “frog in the blender”. The South African spinner himself tweeted.
8) Legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble conducted the Spin Stars Contest in Karnataka for young bowlers in the age group of 10 to 19 years. Around 3000 people participated in the contest and Shivil was one of them.
He was registrant no. AKSSONO126 and emerged as the winner of the contest. Shivil was awarded one lakh rupees as the cash prize by legend BS Chandrasekhar. He also attended a week long coaching from the legend Anil Kumble.
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9) Surprisingly, Shivil Kaushik has no domestic contract to his name so far. He might get picked in the Karnataka side after the IPL, provided he performs well.
10) As admitted by Shivil himself, even he doesn’t know which way the ball will turn. He is a back of the hand bowler and says any ball can turn anyway. Even his coach Anutosh Poll revealed, "He's a back-of-the-hand bowler. He himself confesses that he doesn't know which one will turn which way."
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