Every few minutes, a flight takes off from the airport just beyond the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) ground on the outskirts of Bengaluru. There's a steady hum in the background, easy to tune out, and constant enough to notice if you're paying attention. On the field, Anshul Kamboj's bowling had a similar feel: there was an unhurried, deliberate rhythm to it, as he returned to action far from the spotlight that had briefly found him in England.
After a challenging Test debut in Manchester in July, when he toiled for 18 overs for a solitary wicket, this Duleep Trophy semi-final for North Zone (NZ) against South Zone (SZ) marked a quieter, more controlled step forward.
"I'm just trying to get into rhythm, focus on the present, and push myself without thinking too far ahead," Kamboj had told ESPNcricinfo after the first day's play. After missing NZ's quarter-final due to a fitness concern, acknowledged that two weeks off from bowling had made this match just as much about rebuilding his body as it was about performance.
"I felt really good this morning," he said, reflecting on his first competitive match since the Test debut. "It's been a month since I've played, so I'm just trying to get into the rhythm of playing a match again. I'm trying to push myself without thinking too much about what's ahead, [and] just focusing on the present."
For Kamboj, the pre-season preparation is "just a matter of intensity". It isn't something that simply turns up on match day - it must be cultivated in the days leading up to it. That intensity was evident in his opening spells on the first and second days against SZ, when he steamed in with pace. His actions were sharp, and his focus clear.
"For a fast bowler, loading [the body] during the off-season is crucial for the long season ahead," Kamboj said. "You can't train too much during the season; it's about maintaining yourself. If you load your body well in the off-season, it helps you sustain performance over time.
"When in competition, you focus more on refining your skills since you can't train heavily. But in the off-season, you can build up gradually [by] working on both fitness and skills. The key is not to rest [for] too long, but to keep your body fit through shorter, focused training sessions. If you're prepared in the off-season, you'll just need to maintain it during the season, making it easier to perform consistently."
On Thursday, the first day of the Duleep match, Kamboj bowled a seven-over spell and almost had a wicket, forcing N Jagadeesan, on 9 at the time, to nick a length ball to the keeper only to be no-balled for overstepping. It turned out to be a costly mistake, as Jagadeesan went on to score 197 and pushed SZ's total to 536. Kamboj, however, got on the wickets column soon after, getting Devdutt Padikkal caught behind just as tea approached.
On day two, with 15 overs already under his belt, Kamboj's workload was lighter, with spinners Nishant Sindhu and Mayank Dagar shouldering most of the responsibility, with Sindhu picking up a five-wicket haul. Kamboj still set the tone early on, however, running in hard, hitting the deck, and getting Mohammad Azharrudden caught at first slip with his second ball of the day.
Kamboj, who finished with 2 for 67 in 24 overs, underscored the role of mental fitness in sustaining match intensity.
"If you maintain the intensity of the match in practice, it puts a lot of pressure on the mind," he said. "If you're mentally fit, you can sustain that intensity in practice. But if you're not, it becomes very difficult, and you might give up halfway. It's about pushing yourself extra, even when it feels tough, because that's how you build long-term results."
Last season, Kamboj was the highest wicket-taker in the Duleep Trophy. That followed a haul of 34 wickets in six matches for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. These performances fast-tracked his road to that India cap.
Now, after that difficult Test debut, the selectors were at the CoE, watching him closely. As the new season progresses, Kamboj will hope his preparation, both mental and physical, will enable him to keep putting up these performances of quiet control.