Manipur pacer Rex Singh stormed into the limelight on Tuesday by picking up all ten wickets during a Cooch Behar U19 Trophy match in Anantpur. The youngster ended with stunning figures of 9.5-6-11-10 to dismiss Arunachal Pradesh out for just 36. Manipur cruised to a comfortable 10-wicket win.
Five of the left-armer’s dismissals were bowled and was on a hat-trick twice. One look at his dismissals was enough to deduce that Rex Singh has genuine pace, rhythm and swing. On Social media, there were comparisons made to the early days of Irfan Pathan. Rex Singh has a bowling action that is similar to the Baroda all-rounder, opening up his shoulders and executing a slight jump before release.
As for the other five wickets, Rex Singh trapped two players leg-before before having another one caught in the slip cordon.
Rex Singh, 18, made his Ranji Trophy debut this season and finished with 15 wickets, having snared a five-wicket haul in the first innings. In Indian cricket, leg-spinner Subash Gupte was the first bowler to achieve the feat, back in 1954. Bengal’s PM Chatterjee, Pradeep Sunderam of Rajasthan and former India and Odisha pacer Debashish Mohanty also joined the elite club.
Former India Test captain Anil Kumble is still the only Indian bowler and just the second of all-time to bag a ten-for in international cricket.
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