Anshul Kamboj has turned New Zealand’s biting chill into his private bowling alley. The 25-year-old Haryana seamer tore through the Black Caps' top order with immaculate discipline, grabbing 2/22 at Auckland’s Eden Park before returning 2/25 at Wellington’s Basin Reserve. Four wickets in two matches on his maiden one-day international tour. It was an emphatic opening salvo. For Kamboj, the nippy air and lively green surfaces in the southern hemisphere do not feel alien—they feel like home.
"I started playing when I was 13 years old. I play for Haryana. So it's like similar kind of, what can I say, weather and wickets as well in Haryana," Kamboj said to host broadcasters after his Wellington shift. Back in Rohtak and across North India's winter circuit, dense morning fog and stiff morning breezes force seamers to hit a relentless top-of-off channel. Kamboj did not attempt to reinvent his mechanics in New Zealand. He simply imported that domestic grind onto the drop-in pitches down under.
He pounded a tight, punishing length. New Zealand’s frontline batters repeatedly prodded at deliveries darting through the fourth-stump corridor, undone by late nip off the seam. Many touring fast bowlers get intoxicated by extra bounce and spray their radar wide down the leg side, but Kamboj refused to compromise his discipline. A prior tour with India A had already ironed out his trajectory, allowing him to adjust to the blustery crosswinds.
"It's about accuracy and the perfect line and length, according to the wicket and the situation," Kamboj said. "It's working for me right now, so I'm just focusing on that."
Calposure like this does not arrive by accident. Before earning his international call-up, Kamboj shredded batting lineups during a breakout 2026 Indian Premier League campaign for Chennai Super Kings, pocketing 21 wickets in 14 matches. Sharing a dugout with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former head coach Stephen Fleming sharpened his temperament when matches went down to AirNews.
"That was a good learning experience for me, and I'm still learning a lot," Kamboj said. "I'm just making sure that I'm learning in the right way, not thinking too much about the results, but focusing on what I need to do on the field."
Years of grinding through domestic age-group cricket have hardened his approach. "It's everyone's dream to play for their national team, so it's pretty much exciting," he said. Armed with pinpoint control and two clinical spells in the bag, the young pacer heads into the remainder of the New Zealand tour ready to cement his spot in India's pace attack.