'I Didn't Expect Selection' Says India's Standby Pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla
Left-arm pace bowler Arzan Nagwaswalla was "speechless" before his eyes were filled with tears during the seven-hour journey from Ahmedabad to his village Nargol in Valsad, Gujarat, on Friday when he
"I called up mom and dad the first thing after I came to senses. I was so excited. I couldn't have stopped on the road because Covid-19 protocols don't allow you to step out of the car," Nagwaswalla told IANS from Nargol on Saturday.
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It was a seven-hour non-stop trip from Ahmedabad to his village as he munched the snacks his mother had packed for him when he had left home to join Mumbai Indians nets in March.
The 23-year-old player was returning from Delhi where he was a net bowler with the Mumbai Indians after the Indian Premier League was postponed due to the raging Covid-19 pandemic.
The subsequent calls, congratulatory ones from friends and interview requests from the media drained him so much that he could barely pick the phone during the last phase of his journey.
"I was exhausted. By the end of it, I was so tired that I could barely pick calls and talk," said Nagwaswalla. "I did not expect the call. Everyone has confidence that I would get through one day or the other. I also had that confidence. [But] this was very unexpected and surprising," he said.
Nagwaswalla thinks of himself being a left-arm was an advantage that helped him make a cut. "Maybe because I am a left-arm fast bowler [I was picked]. I am young. That is the only thing. Also, my last season went well," he said.
On reaching home, family and friends thronged Nagwaswalla. "I hugged my parents tightly. My friends, who were waiting for me at the doorstep, celebrated by ordering a cake for me," he said.
The pace bowler, who represents Gujarat in Ranji Trophy, has picked 62 wickets in 16 first-class matches. He took 41 wickets in eight matches in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season.
Former Gujarat coach Vijay Patel calls him a "swing bowler and someone who has come through age-group cricket". "Yes, I am a swing bowler. My speed is 130-135, but I try to swing the ball," Nagwaswalla explained.
