NAGPUR/MUMBAI: When Vidarbha were confirming their place in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockouts on Monday, their left-arm spinner Akshay Karnewar was walking into the record books, dot by dot. Karnewar did the unthinkable when he conceded zero runs from his quota of four overs and became the first-ever bowler in men's cricket to achieve the feat in the T20 format. His figures at the end of the match read 4-4-0-2 vs Manipur.
How thankful would the tall bowler be to his junior coach Balu Navghare who goaded him to try left-arm spin too. It may be noted that Karnewar's primary skill was off-spin bowling and batting right-handed, but because he threw left-handed, Navghare told him to take up left-arm spin seriously.
That skill came handy as the ambidextrous spinner, seeing mostly right-handers in the rival team, chose to bowl left-arm-orthodox on Monday in the Plate group match at the ACA Stadium in Vijayawada.
Astonishingly, Karnewar was taken off the attack after bowling three successive maidens. He had taken two wickets in his first two overs, but no one, including him, knew about the impending world record. It was only when the message was passed from the dressing room, that he was back into the attack. The spinner bowled six dot balls to notch up the world record.
The spinner was himself surprised looking at his figures. "It's unbelievable. Not conceding even a single run in the entire match is something extraordinary and I am really feeling good," said Karnewar, who kept receiving a string of congratulatory messages and calls after the match.
Former Vidarbha coach Sulakshan Kulkarni hailed Karnewar's efforts. "He is a big performance player. He showed his mettle with the bat in Vidarbha's second Ranji final. Then, scored 100 in Irani Trophy and now recorded another big performance," said Sulakshan, who has coached Karnewar in his under-19 days.
