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Cooch Behar Trophy Final: Vidarbha’s Atharva Taide does a Yuvraj Singh

The win on Wednesday rounds off an impressive year for Vidarbha on the domestic circuit, as the senior team won their first ever Ranji Trophy just a month earlier.

Cooch Behar Trophy, Cooch Behar Trophy results, Vidarbha vs Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Vidarbha, Atharva Taide, Atharva Taide triple-hundred, sports news, cricket, Indian Express Athrava Taide became the first batsman in nearly two decades to hit a triple hundred in the U-19 Cooch Behar final.

“There was a lot of pressure because I had never been this close to a triple ton, and I wanted to get it over with.” Atharva Taide won’t be the first batsman to have felt the anxiety of “getting it over with” while in the 290s. For not many batsman really get that far too often, at any level. But here stood Atharva, all of 18, on the cusp of a maiden triple-ton. And the nerves were understandably jangling. But he found the perfect way to deal with them.

He hit the next he faced for four, taking him to 298, and then a quick double through the covers followed. Atharva had reached his summit. And so relieved was he that, “I hit the next ball for four!”

It was an innings that lasted 483 balls, had 34 fours and one six — a calm knock that was against his nature. It also led Vidarbha to a maiden U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy title. In a match that was eventually drawn, it was Atharva’s knock that made the difference and provided the crucial first innings lead to his team. Along the way, his 320 also made him the first player since Yuvraj Singh, in the 1999-2000 season, to score a triple-hundred in the final.

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The win on Wednesday rounds off an impressive year for Vidarbha on the domestic circuit, as the senior team won their first ever Ranji Trophy just a month earlier.

Madhya Pradesh won the toss and opted to bat before being bundled out for 289. The Vidarbha camp had a target in mind they deemed competitive enough, until Taide – who opened the innings – showed no signs of stopping. “We wanted to score about 450 to get a decent enough lead and bat at least an entire day,” says Atharva, who was eventually bowled in the 181st over of the innings, “But I was in good form, so it just went on and on.” Vidarbha would eventually make 614.

Festive offer

Despite his feat, Atharva insists on having played against his nature. Ideally his innings would have included more boundaries and fewer deliveries. But while fielding on the first day, he pulled a muscle on his right quadriceps. “I’m a typical aggressive ODI batsman, but I couldn’t move too well,” Atharva says. “I had to be patient and kept icing it whenever I got the chance. And I had to hit along the ground, but I was still getting runs. So I guess I showed that I can be versatile too.”

Though he likes to be an attack-minded player typical of an age where T20 and the IPL take precedence, his father first noticed a glimpse of his talent through his defensive technique. When he was four, playing tennis-ball cricket with his father in the backyard of their home in Akola, Maharashtra, Atharva batted with a near-perfect stance, had a graceful back-lift and an even better defensive shot. Explains his father Yayati Taide: “You’d never expect a boy so young, who is playing practically for the first time, to have such a style.”

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The senior Taide led a brief discussion within the family, and Atharva was immediately sent for training at the Akola Cricket Club. He’d spend most of his day training with coaches — apart from when he was in school — and at night he’d train in the backyard that his father transformed. “I put up a pitch for him there, complete with nets, bowling machine and floodlights,” says the associate Dean at an agricultural university in Akola.

His routine revolved around cricket. And though his father was a high-standing professional in the world of academia, Atharva was never pressured to go into that route. Before he was recruited by the Vidarbha Cricket Association as a 13-year-old, he’d start the day carrying his cricket kit, school books and school uniform with him to practice. He’d change at the cricket ground and go to school.

“Naturally, his hair would be uncombed and his tie wasn’t neat,” Yayati explains. “I never went for the Parent-Teacher meetings. But Atharva’s mother would get a lot of complaints from teachers because of it, especially because the teachers knew I too was a professor.”

The youngster’s development in the game had become a family affair, and on Wednesday, Atharva’s parents and grandparents were all in the stands at Nagpur watching him skipper his side to victory. They didn’t get to meet him for long after the match, but Yayati is certain his son would have continued a tradition Atharva had come up with himself. “Every time he got out while batting, he’d take notes in a special notebook about how he got out and the score,” he says. The latest entry would be as follows: bowled, but for 320.

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First uploaded on: 01-02-2018 at 01:11 IST
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