A 21-year-old cricketer, Shashikumar Kamble, has brought laurels to Kalaburagi district by getting selected to play in the Ranji Trophy for the State team, matches for which are scheduled from January 5 to March 14, 2024.
Shashikumar Kamble is the third player who has been selected for the Ranji team from the district. In 1998, Raghuttama Navali was selected, while in 2000, it was Vijay Madyalkar.
Shashikumar Kamble, who is a right-arm off-spinner, comes from a humble background; his father, Subhash Kamble, is a construction worker.
In the initial days he shined with his batting techniques scoring 287 runs in five matches while playing for zonal level under 14 team. He was the only player to get selected from the Raichur Zone for the Vijay Merchant under 16 tournament organised by the Karnataka State Cricket Association.
Though Shashikumar Kamble started his cricket career as a batsman, he shifted his focus to bowling as he could bowl many variations of the off-spin.
While playing for Vijay Merchant under 16 team, he secured seven wickets in four matches. And, he bagged 16 wickets in five matches in the under 14 tournament.
In divisional level tournaments, Shashikumar Kamble secured 30 wickets in five matches in 2017-18 and got 23 wickets in five matches in 2018-19.
He also represented Mangalore United team in the Maharaja Trophy T20 tournament organised by Karnataka State Cricket Association in August 2022.
The player has set a record by taking the highest number of wickets in the under 19 Cooch Behar tournament organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
He has also been selected for an advanced cricket coaching camp at the National Cricket Academy.
