With Arzan Nagwaswalla’s inclusion as a
standby on the Indian men’s cricket team, he becomes the first Parsi to qualify after 46 years
Parinaz Gandhi
From the Nargol beach to the Wankhede Stadium to the Hampshire Bowl, bowler Arzan Nagwaswalla’s deliveries have continued to impress selectors. His inclusion as one of the four standbys on the Indian cricket team that is currently in England ahead of the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and the Test series against England from June to September 2021 has made him the wonder boy of the Parsi community. Having once dominated the game, no Parsi had qualified for the national men’s team after wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer last played in 1975.
"Good luck, stay safe and enjoy yourself,” were the umpteen messages that came for Nagwaswalla who is on his "first overseas trip.” A brief video of his mother Maheru performing the traditional sagan before his departure while his father Rohinton looks on, with jubilant friends on the street below dancing to the rhythm of the local band and lifting the hero on their shoulders continued to be in circulation on WhatsApp groups. When Parsiana spoke to him on Sunday June 6, he was preparing for his "first practice session” on foreign soil. Since the team was officially in quarantine, to get acclimatized to the new conditions "batches of five or six are permitted on the stadium that is adjacent to our hotel,” stated Arzan. For the 23-year-old left arm medium pacer and right hand lower middle order batsman, the entire experience has been surreal.
Until the first week of May 2021 he was busy with the Mumbai Indians team, being recruited as their net bowler to help the team warm up before the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. He had been called for trials by the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals but did not find any takers at the IPL auction. Instead of being dejected, he appreciated that he got the exposure to bowl to the likes of Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard as also his idol Zaheer Khan. "These days it’s rare for someone to not play the IPL and get picked for the Indian team,” he was quoted in Deccan Herald of May 11. Once the games were suspended on May 4 due to the phenomenal rise of positive cases in the second wave of the pandemic in India, the cricketer was proceeding to his hometown in Nargol when he received a phone call that he should be ready for an overseas trip.
In keeping with the current Covid protocol, he joined the team on a chartered flight on June 3 with evidence of a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test report. Prior to that they were required to spend 14 days in a bio-secure environment in India during which regular testing was done. Once the flight landed they were directly taken to Southampton to the on-site hotel at the Hampshire Bowl where after testing they commenced a 10-day period of managed isolation. As reported on timesnownews.com on June 1, "Players’ activities will be allowed in a gradually increasing manner after each round of negative testing, moving from exercise in isolation to small group and then larger squad activity whilst always remaining within the bio-secure venue.”
Arzan Nagwaswalla (top): swings the ball at a practice match
Arzan had learnt the nitty-gritty of the sport from his elder brother Vispi. He found a berth on the Gujarat team in the 2018-19 season and caught the eye of the selectors when he succeeded in taking five wickets for 78 runs at the Ranji Trophy matches (see "Buoyant bowler,” Parsiana, December 21, 2018). His personal coach Kiran Tandel and all his state coaches have helped him improve his game, he had acknowledged. "He found his mojo in the 2019-20 season of the Ranji Trophy, scalping 41 wickets. Even though there was no Ranji Trophy last season, the youngster had a successful outing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Gujarat with 19 wickets. And that earned him a spot in the Indian side,” noted Sportstar of May 7.
Being only three seasons old in domestic cricket, Arzan viewed his selection as a standby for the national team as a fortuitous break. "In his short first class career so far the left arm seamer has picked up 62 wickets at an average of 22.53 and a strike rate of 44.6. He is not express but can go up to 135 kph. While he can swing the new ball, with the older ball he has developed ‘patience,’” noted a summary on Espncricinfo.com
When the lockdowns in 2020-21 restricted play practice, Arzan would spend time "alone on the Nargol beach, meditating and improving my mental state,” he told Parsiana. He convinced himself that "it is okay to wait. Whenever a chance will come my way, I will prove my worth…”
As Engineer told Sportstar, "The fact that he has made it to the squad proves that he is very good. He should aim to do better…I don’t want to see him just as a standby or a net bowler. I would love to see him opening the bowling for India one day.”