Arzan Nagwaswalla became a trend on social media platforms since his name appeared in the standby squad that will travel to the United Kingdom for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship and the five-match Test series against England.
Apart from Arzan, the other three standby players are Abhimanyu Easwaran, Avesh Khan, and Prasidh Krishna. While the other three have got the limelight following their gleaming performances in domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
However, despite impressing the cricket fraternity in domestic cricket, Arzan Nagwaswalla was away from the spotlight. The left-arm pacer is an apparent replacement for an injured T Natarajan.
Here are some intriguing facts about Arzan Nagwaswalla:
Early Life
Born on October 17, 1997, in a Parsi family in Surat Gujarat, Arzan does not have any cricket expert at home. In his childhood, he got a tad bit of help from his elder brother. Later on, he bettered his ability to bowl with a lot of practice and coaching.
The 23-year-old has represented Gujarat at the Under-16s, Under-19s, and Under-23 level before making his presence felt at the senior level.
List A Debut
He made his List A debut for Gujarat against Rajasthan in February 2018. He marked the match with the figures of 2/34 in eight overs. Gujarat won the game with ease.
Since then, he has picked 39 wickets in 20 List A matches at an average of 21.76 and strike rate of 24.9
Ranji Trophy
In the 2019-20 season, he picked up as many as 41 wickets in eight matches. He ended the season on a brilliant note as he notched up three five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul. He’s averaged 18.36 during the season.
So far, Arzan Nagwaswalla has played 16 first-class games scalping 62 wickets including four five-wicket hauls and one ten-wicket haul.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
In 2019, he made his T20 debut by playing against Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He accounted for 3/11 in the four overs. Arzan cleaned up the crucial players like Murali Vijay, Hari Nishanth, and Ravichandran Ashwin. He was sensational in the 2021 season as well.
Arzan Nagwaswalla has 21 wickets under his belt in 15 T20s, averaging 16.38 and a strike rate of 14. What is even more impressive is an economy rate of just 6.97 in T20 cricket. In the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he picked 9 wickets in just 5 matches for Gujarat with a strike rate of 10.3.
Moment for recognition
Nagwaswalla rose to prominence with a five-wicket haul against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium in his debut season in 2018, returning figures of 5 for 78 in 23.3 overs. He was the man responsible for Mumbai’s batting collapses picking up wickets of Suryakumar Yadav, Armaan Jaffer, Aditya Tare, Dhrumil Matkar, and Siddhesh Lad.
The 2019-20 season of the Ranji Trophy is when he came into his own, validating all the hype around him, with 41 wickets. His bowling average was just 18.36 and strike rate, 39.4, as he bagged three fifers, and one ten-wicket haul against Punjab.
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