10 Interesting facts of Arzan Nagwaswalla - The new entrant in India's Test squad

Arzan Nagwaswalla is trending on social media ever since India’s squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final and the five-match Test series against England has been announced. He is among the four standby players alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran, Avesh Khan and Prasidh Krishna.  Many are aware of this trio thanks to their scintillating performances in the domestic circuit and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

However, despite being impressive, Arzan Nagwaswalla is unknown to many and the fans are now interested to know about him. Arzan is a left-arm pacer and is possibly the replacement for T Natarajan who made his Test debut on Australia tour but wasn’t considered for England tour as he is recovering from an injury.

Here are some of the interesting facts about Arzan Nagwaswalla:

1. Birth

Arzan Nagwaswalla was born on October 17, 1997 in Surat, Gujarat. He belongs to the Parsi community, which has played an important part in the Indian cricket history.

2. Learnt cricket at an early age

He doesn’t have any cricket background but picked the basics of the game from his brother Vispi at an early age and then only bettered his ability with the ball.

3. List A debut in February 2018

Arzan Nagwaswalla first made his debut for Gujarat against Rajasthan in List A cricket in February 2018 where he returned with impressive figures of 2/34 in 8 overs. He picked up wickets of Chetan Bist and Aditya Garhwal as Gujarat comfortably won the game.

4. Moment of Fame

Arzan shot to fame during the 2018-19 season itself for picking a stunning five-wicket haul against a strong Mumbai side. 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.

5. Not a great FC debut

Later in the year, in November, the youngster made his First class debut against Baroda but could only pick one wicket across two innings in 20 overs he bowled.

6. T20 debut in 2019

In the following year, in 2019, he made his T20 debut in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Tamil Nadu returning with the stunning figures of 3/11 in his four overs. The left-arm pacer picked crucial wickets of Murali Vijay, Hari Nishanth and Ravi Ashwin.

7. Impressive but inconsistent

Cricket fraternity was taking note of his impressive performances every now and then, but he was largely inconsistent during this period.

8. Amazing Ranji Trophy 2019-20 season

However, it was in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season where he shone with the ball for Gujarat picking a whopping 41 wickets in eight matches. He accounted for three five-wicket hauls and a 10-wicket match haul as well while picking his scalps at an impressive average of 18.36.

9. Continued great form in VHT and SMAT 2021 season

Arzan Nagwaswalla followed it up with a sensational performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy picking up nine wickets and then accounted for 19 scalps in the Vijay Hazare Trophy season earlier this year.

10. Picked as standby player in India’s Test squad

On May 7, 2021 Arzan realised the dream of rubbing the shoulders with some of the best players in the country as the national selectors picked him in India’s Test squad as the standby player for WTC Final and the subsequent England series.