Courtesy-The Indian Express
A Parsi cricketer is about to board an Indian team flight after nearly a half-century. In the very least as a backup. There had not been a Parsi man in the national set-up since Farokh Engineer last played for India in 1975 until Gujarat’s left-arm medium-pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla was named among the reserves for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and the five-Test series against England.
During the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season, he took 41 wickets in eight games at an average of 18.36. There is video evidence of his abilities on YouTube, including booming in-swingers to right-handed batsmen, stump-crashing yorkers, and throat-threatening bouncers.
Nagwaswalla’s loading style is reminiscent of Zaheer Khan, and it’s no joke that Khan was his idol. Nagwaswalla ran into the former India pacer in the Mumbai Indians net one day.
“He (Zaheer) came and said that I bowl like him. This tour will be a great learning experience for me and I’m looking forward to it,” he said in an interview with The Indian Express.
The 23-year-old left-arm pacer is the youngest member of the Parsi group in Nergal, a village near the Gujarat border town of Umbergaon. In reality, he is the only one of his generation who has remained. He reveals that the rest of them left for the greener pastures of Mumbai a long time ago. His dad, on the other hand, had no need to move to a major city. Staying put paid dividends as he advanced quickly through the junior ranks in Gujarat.
In the here and now, Nagwaswalla is happy and proud of coming through from the Parsi community. “It will be a proud moment for our community, for sure. Since the time I started playing cricket, I always wanted to be a cricketer. I know what my community’s legacy has been. I will try to carry the same ahead,” he said.
Priyank Panchal, a teammate from Gujarat, describes Nagwaswalla’s main characteristics.
Panchal told the newspaper, “The best part is that he can swing the ball both ways. At the same time, he clocks 135-plus on a consistent basis. He is one of the few bowlers on the domestic circuit with a deadly bouncer. Fast bowlers bowl short by pitching around the halfway mark, but Arzan can get bounce by pitching between halfway and the good-length area. The way he bowled in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy, I thought someone will pick him for the Indian Premier League but he went just as a net bowler for Mumbai Indians. The good thing is that now Arzan will grow from here. Initially, he had pace but didn’t have control over the line. Even a stint as a net bowler with the Indian team will boost his confidence. He will come back a better bowler after the tour”.
The left-arm medium-pacer learned the sport from his elder brother Vispi at a young age. The pacer was on his way back from Mumbai, where he was a net bowler for the Mumbai Indians when he received a call from the selector.