If there is one man who has made the most difference in the Ranji final, it has to be left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate. A five-for in the first innings, a valiant match-turning 49 in the second that allowed Vidarbha to set a 204-run target, which he followed up with three wickets that has reduced Saurashtra to 58 for 5 and still needing 148 runs for an improbable win. Most importantly, he took out Cheteshwar Pujara in both innings. But his toughest act was in the way he handled the accident of his father, that has made him bedridden for over 20 years, and how he has taken his family along with him. Aditya’s mother Anushree is almost in awe of her own son. Her husband Anand had gone to Mumbai 20 years ago to meet her brother when a tanker smashed into his vehicle, slipping him into coma. He recovered consciousness but would end up paralysed. Anushree worked in a bank to run the family and the young Aditya helped her in all ways possible — he would occasionally help bathe his father, feed him, take care of his needs and continues to take care of him even now. “He has seen so much struggle in life. In personal life with his father and then on the cricket field also. But he was so focussed - and all that trouble matured him early. He understands life. The accident changed him completely. That’s why when any young boy consults him, he always tells them to focus on studies. He too completed his graduation, a diploma in financial management that he topped,” his mother tells this newspaper. On the field, the topper excelled with ball and the bat in the Ranji final. The most important piece of action on Day Four arrived when he started to bowl at Pujara. In the first innings he had got his man with his turn - Pujara had played inside the line but the ball spun, taking the edge with it. In the second, Pujara played for the turn when the ball landed on middle stump line but this went with the arm to trap him plumb in front. A stunning achievement against India’s best player of spin who had tackled Nathan Lyon with such ease. Not once, but he fooled him twice. The local television channels pounced in to celebrate. Anushree did a round of the studios, proud and happy about her son’s on-field accomplishments and in the chat with this newspaper, she rolled back the years. To his grandfather who used to be a commentator and to his father, a local cricketer who wanted his son to play cricket. Post the accident, even Anushree was a bit frazzled. She wanted Aditya to take up the first job that came his way but he stood firm, saying he had bigger dreams. He declined the job at the bank, saying he knew he could make it big in the game. “He is the one who gives me the courage, hausla, sometimes I lost hope but he never did. He is more positive than me,” the mother says. “He never gave up, always kept trying and it has reflected in his cricket too. All I can say is that I wish every mother gets a son like him. Whenever he is home, he would tell me to rest and that he will do the work. When I had to take his father for physiotherapy, young Aditya used to run the house, taking care of everything. Aisaa bacha, bhagwan sabko de.” It was not as if the cricket came easy to him. Even there, he had to wait for success. Praveen Hinganikar, who mentored him in the cricket academy, would be astonished with the boy’s resilience. “He was consistent in U-23 but Ranji selection didn’t happen. I would tell him that, beta you have no option but to score more runs and wickets. He would do it and ask me, “would that be enough sir?” and I would tell him, ‘no no more.” Finally, the selectors picked him. His batting was coming along pretty nicely but sensing he had to improve his bowling, he sought the advice of former India spinner Narendra Hirwani. Aditya had seen himself as a batsman who could bowl but that changed in 2015 when Hirwani saw him. “I saw him bowl, his control, and I thought he could be a good spinner — and all I gave him was that self-belief,” Hirwani says. Hirwani would have been proud to see his boy take out Pujara twice. Such was the team’s confidence, that he was asked to open the bowling. He tossed one up, getting it curl away, sucking the first-innings centurion Snell Patel into a fatal prod. Harvik Desai went down the track and tried to on drive him but got the leading edge, which was snapped up by Sarwate. Then came the killer blow of Pujara. Not to forget his batting in the second innings. Vidarbha were 73 for 5 when he came, and slipped to 147 for 8 but he carried on to drag them to 200, giving him and his team-mates a total they can defend. By the look of things, he has put Vidarbha on course for a consecutive Ranji triumph and if Saurashtra have to pull off a minor miracle, they have to find a way to stop him. *** Saurashtra still in with a chance, says Kotak Nagpur: Saurashtra coach Sitanshu Kotak feels his team still has a chance to lift their maiden Ranji Trophy title. Saurashtra, five down, need a further 148 runs to win a tight game. The biggest blow was that of Cheteshwar Pujara but the dismissal that further loaded the odds against them came late in the day when Sheldon Jackson played a needlessly aggressive shot, with just four overs left to go. He charged down the track for a big hit but completely missed it to be bowled by the offspinner Akshay Wakhare. Kotak, though, reckons everything would depend on the first session of the final day. “If we can get those 50 odd partnership without losing any wicket than you never know; things can fall in our favour. The challenge will be to take the game as close as possible. If we manage to take the game close than it will come down to who handles the pressure better” Kotak said. Saurashtra had reached the finals after two big chases in the previous games but this track that is slow and aiding turn has hampered their ambitions. Kotak is resting his hopes on the fact that Vidarbha too was pulled out of trouble by their lower order. Vidarbha were 73 for 5 one stage but the last five batsmen added 127 runs. “We will go with small targets and not think about 150 odd runs we want. That’s how we have chased those games in past. The scenario is different now as our top order is out. But we have still players who can bat down the order. There are players who are used to playing in such conditions and can handle the pressure,” he added.
