It was a wicket which Himangshu Sangwan, the journeyman seam bowler of Railways team, will cherish all his life. A fuller inswinger from the 29-year-old spoilt Virat Kohli’s much-hyped return to Ranji Trophy – bowling him through the gate for only six runs in the first session of second day at the Kotla.

 The master batter, who had survived just 15 deliveries on his comeback to domestic cricket after 12 years for Delhi, looked crestfallen as he started the lonely walk back to the pavilion. The bearded and stocky Sangwan, employed as a ticket collector at the New Delhi railway station, pumped his fists in an extended celebration – proving once again that this sport can be a great leveller.

 A large section of the 15,000-odd crowd, which had been flocking since the first day to watch Kohli in action for free, slowly started to leave the venue. Kohli’s tryst with the red ball, hence, continued to be an unhappy one and there was a considerable spotlight on the man who did the damage.

Who is Himangshu Sangwan? Born on 2 September 1995 in a middle class Delhi family, he had played some of his youth cricket with Rishabh Pant for the Under-19 Delhi side in 2014-15 season. However, he could not make a dent in the Delhi side because of stiff competition and tried his luck with Haryana but to no avail.

After having grown up in Jhunjhunu area of Rajasthan, Himangshu left home to follow his dream of being a fast bowler and his father Surendra Singh Sangwan – a bank manager – and mother Bhagwan Rati, a teacher, went out of their way to keep his dreams alive. A friend told him about vacancies with the Indian Railways on Sports quota after he had been in the wilderness playing cricket for two years. After submitting an application, he was hired six months later to work as a ticket collector at the New Delhi station.

 Himangshu made his List A debut for Railways in September, 2019, in a Vijay Hazare Trophy during the 2019–20 season. A few months later, he made his Twenty20 debut at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and a first-class debut at the Ranji Trophy followed. He had 77 first class wickets in the bag from 23 Ranji Trophy matches ahead of the Delhi game, 21 List-A wickets from 17 games and five T20 wickets from seven games.

In his debut season against Mumbai, he had accounted for Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane while in the same match, he had also claimed five wickets in the second innings. However, he seemed to have reserved his best for Friday in removing Kohli - the iconic cricketer whose return to Ranji got the nation talking.

 Himangshu, who lives in Najafgarh and represents Sporting Club in the DDCA, has 14 wickets from six matches this season.