My bowling idol and inspiration has always been Zaheer Khan: Arzan Nagwaswalla

The young Arzan Nagwaswalla has grabbed all the limelight in the cricket fraternity for the past few days as he has been named as a standby player by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship followed by the five-match Test series in England.

Though Arzan is yet to make a debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL), he was roped in by Mumbai Indians (MI) as a net bowler during the 14th edition of the T20 Championship. The 23-year-old has some stunning number to his name in the domestic circuit as in 16 First-Class matches, he has picked a stunning 62 wickets at an economy rate of 3.02.

The young bowler was recently involved in an interaction with BCCI.tv where he spoke at lengths about his cricket career. During the interaction, Arzan was also asked regarding his idol and inspiration in the world of cricket.

To this, the speedster answered that he has always admired former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan as they both are left-arm pacers. Khan is the Mumbai Indians team’s director of cricket operations, while Arzan worked as a net bowler for the franchise.

“My bowling idol and inspiration has always been Zaheer Khan mainly because he has also been a left-arm pacer. I have grown up watching him playing for India and doing really well,” said Arzan Nagwaswalla.

Parthiv Patel helped me improve: Arzan Nagwaswalla

Further in the interaction, Arzan lavished praises on former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel. Arzan also credited Parthiv for helping him improve his game and always supporting him while playing in the domestic tournaments. Patel was the Gujarat captain when Nagwaswalla made his debut in the prestigious Vijay Hazare Trophy.

“I have made my debut under him in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2018. The way he uses his mind and operates during the game is completely on a different level. He used to tell me that you must know your role with the ball; be it coming in as a third pacer or taking the new ball. He always highlighted the importance of planning going into the game and told us to believe in ourselves while executing our plans,” Nagwaswalla added.

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