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Aditya Sarwate and Akshay Wakhare, spinning arms in Vidarbha’s success

Sarwate was the wrecker-in-chief, as defending champions Vidarbha rolled over Bengal inside two days in their Ranji Trophy match at Nagpur.

Vidarbha vs Bengal, Vidarbha vs Bengal Ranji Trophy, Ranju Trophy Vidarbha vs Bengal, Vidarbha Ranji Trophy, Ranjji Trophy Vidarbha, Ranji Trophy, Ranji Trophy Vidarbha team, Vidarbha Ranji Trophy U-19 team, Sports news, Cricket news, Indian Express Aditya Sarwate took six wickets in the second innings. (PTI)

After achieving his second 10-wicket match haul in first-class cricket, Aditya Sarwate said, “I don’t need another hero”. He dedicated the feat to his mother, Anusree. Sarwate’s father, Anand, became wheelchair-bound after meeting with an accident 27 years ago.

“My mother faced a lot of hardships. She was working in a bank when my father’s accident happened. She had to look after my father and she raised me also. Her struggle reflects in my game. I take the field every game thinking it’s my last. That keeps me going,” Sarwate told The Indian Express.

Sarwate was the wrecker-in-chief, as defending champions Vidarbha rolled over Bengal inside two days in their Ranji Trophy match at Nagpur. After taking 4/53 in the first innings, Sarwate returned with 6/47 in the second, with the visitors collapsing to 99 all out.

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At the Vidarbha dressing-room, coach Chandrakant Pandit was still not happy. “I thought he should have got eight wickets on this track. I, and also Wasim Jaffer, keep telling them – Sarwate and his spin-bowling partner Akshay Wakhare – that on a turning track, a five-wicket haul is not a very good performance. If you are getting five wickets, you try and take seven wickets. You compete with yourself,” Pandit told The Indian Express, quietly slipping the information that he does it two keep the two spinners motivated.

Motivation can become an issue when performances in domestic cricket are not rewarded. Sarwate and Wakhare accounted for 17 wickets in the match — the latter had a five-for in the first innings. They have been doing this season after season.

Festive offer

Last term, as Vidarbha had retained the title, Sarwate returned with an 11-wicket match haul in the final against Cheteshwar Pujara’s Saurashtra. He had finished the season with 55 scalps, while Wakhare had 34. The season before that, when Vidarbha won their maiden Ranji title, the left-arm spinner had 29 wickets from just six matches. Wakhare, the offie, had accounted for 34 wickets from eight matches. The India A team’s series against Sri Lanka last year remains Sarwate’s tenuous link to international cricket. Wakhare, surprisingly, has never been considered even for India A.

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“To be honest, on this point I have no idea (about) what’s going around. Definitely it hurts. After performing that much, if you aren’t getting (picked) for India A also – I haven’t played a single match for India A – it definitely hurts. But I can’t do anything for that,” Wakhare told this paper.

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At 34 years of age, international cricket now is probably beyond the off-spinner, but Sarwate is still not old for a spinner. “Yes, it hurts. I was expecting at least two-three matches against the Sri Lanka. One match is not sufficient. I have to perform in the Ranji Trophy so that I can get another opportunity,” said Sarwate.

Pandit has an advice for both.

“Keep knocking the door. Knock it so hard that the selectors open it for you.” He rubbished the perception that Sarwate and Wakhare thrive on turning pitches and they need improvement, when the surface is placid.

Wakhare’s got emotional to that query. “I have been playing for 15 years. You can take out my records.”

Brief Scores (in Nagpur)): Bengal 170 all out and 99 all out in 26.1 overs (Anustup Majumdar 29; Aditya Sarwate 6 for 47, Akshay Wakhare 2-23) lost to Vidarbha 212 in 74 overs (Faiz Fazal 51, Akshay Wadkar 49; Arnan Nandi 3/51) & 61/1 in 13.5 overs by nine wickets.

Points: Vidarbha 6, Bengal 0

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First uploaded on: 13-01-2020 at 00:26 IST
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