It's not very often that an Indian player is playing a different tournament in April-May and not the IPL, apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, who has become a regular fixture for Sussex in the County Championship. However, in the last few years, several Indian players have boarded the County train from Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan to Prithvi Shaw and Karun Nair. Nair is currently with the Northamptonshire and has done well at the start of the season and has been joined by veteran pacer Siddharth Kaul.
Kaul, who didn't find any takers at the IPL 2024 auction, was selected by the Northants to play three County games and the 33-year-old made an immediate impact. With the red ball swinging away from the right-hander and into the left-hander, Kaul made the ball talk in the Division Two match against Gloucestershire and took a fifer in his very first appearance for Northants.
Kaul ended up taking six wickets for the match but despite his efforts, his team didn't win as Gloucs rode on a handsome 238-run lead in the first innings to notch up their first win of the season. After the match, Kaul wrote on Twitter (now X) saying, "Red ball cricket is my true passion !!! JAI MATA DI !!! Thank you to whoever clicked this great picture !!!"
Interestingly, Kaul was with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for the last couple of seasons in the IPL but played a solitary game in 2022 against the Gujarat Titans but remained largely on the bench. Kaul may have found his calling for Northants and will be looking to add a few more feathers to his cap against Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
Northamptonshire are yet to win a game in the season so far but find themselves one spot above the bottom place having drawn their four previous games before the defeat against Gloucestershire.
