Arzan Nagwaswalla
When the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 20-member list for the World Test Championship Final against New Zealand, scheduled to be played later in the summer in Southampton, the standby list featured an unheralded name. A left-arm pacer from Gujarat by the name Arzan Nagwaswalla was the final name on that list, who had just been rewarded for his domestic exploits.
He made his first-class debut in the 2018/19 season, his claim to fame was a five-wicket haul against Mumbai, but had the selectors talking following his 41-wicket season in 2019/20 at an average of 39.4 with three five-wicket hauls. One of those fi-fers was picked against Punjab which he converted into a ten-wicket haul to bag the Player of the Match award.
After Gujarat set a target of 281 at Valsad in the Group 1 tie, Nagwaswalla single-handedly put his side in the driver's seat by running through the Punjab lineup dismissing as many as four batters in his opening spell, before returning to pick his fifth and eventually finish with 5 for 64.
Gujarat strengthened their lead to set a 220-run target and Nagwaswalla once again ensured no chance of a fightback from Punjab. He finished with 5 for 50 in the second innings to help Gujarat to win by an emphatic margin of 110 runs
Nagwaswalla will now travel to England along with the three standby players - Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna and Abhimanyu Easwaran - for the WTC final.
