The sensational Ranji spell that brought Arzan Nagwaswalla in national reckoning

Once the BCCI announced India’s squad for World Test Championship final and the subsequent five-Test series against England, the search engines witnessed a sudden surge in the searches of “Arzan Nagwaswalla”, one of the four pacers named as reserves in the Indian team.

Hailing from a remote village Nargol, in the Valsad district of Gujarat state of India, Nagwaswalla has had an impactful age-level cricket career. The left-arm seamer’s rise to prominence has been the direct result of his toil and labor in the last couple of years in the domestic circuit of the country.

The only active Parsi cricketer in the country currently, Nagwaswalla has some serious number behind his back: 62 wickets at an average and strike rate of 22.53 and 44.60 from 16 FC games, while in 20 List As, he has 39 wickets at 21.76. In the recent edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he had 9 wickets in his tally in merely five matches for Gujarat. He went unsold at the IPL 2021 auction, however, a much bigger event awaited in the form of a reserves call-up for India.

The sensational Ranji spell

Having made his First-Class debut in the 2018-19 season, Nagwaswalla grabbed eyeballs courtesy of a five-wicket haul (5/78) against Mumbai, in a 41-wicket season, including three fifers overall, where his impressive bowling average (18.36) and strike rate (39.4) highlighted his potential. His first five-wicket haul came against Punjab, which he eventually turned into a ten-for, as he scalped 5 for 50 in the second innings.

He is all set to travel with India on one of the toughest, most challenging tours. Even though his chance to make his debut for the nation as early seems improbable, if there is one thing that he can be mighty proud of, is making his case strong enough to be considered a backup in an exceedingly competitive team.

In the recent past, T Natarajan’s dream story is one to take inspiration from. Selected much like Nagwaswalla as a net bowler, he went onto making a debut in all three formats of the game for the nation after a spate of injuries to India’s frontline pacers. Given that India will be playing a long tour, workload management or any injury might well be the script of another dream tale.

Arzan Nagwaswalla is a new addition in the #TeamIndia squad as a standby player. @GCAMotera

Watch this to know what he is capable of 🎥 👇

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) May 7, 2021