The right-handed batsman and left-arm spinner, who has appeared for Kings XI Punjab in 2016 and 2017 IPL but with little impact, was pleased with his effort against Mumbai
It is not a pleasant feeling to be left out of a squad after being drafted in and getting a taste of what first-class cricket is all about. But, for Baroda’s 26-year-old Swapnil Singh, getting dropped from the Baroda squad in the early years “felt good”.
“Being in and out of the team is an experience. Getting dropped was a good experience. You know where you lack,” Swapnil said here on Saturday after the third and penultimate day’s play of the Group C Ranji Trophy encounter against Mumbai on which he hit 164, his maiden first-class century in his 43rd game.
Swapnil was in no hurry to score on Saturday. “The idea was to stretch as much as possible so that we don’t have to bat the second time,” he said.
The right-handed batsman and left-arm spinner, who has appeared for Kings XI Punjab in 2016 and 2017 IPL but with little impact, was pleased with his effort against Mumbai. “It feels great to score in Mumbai’s 500th Ranji Trophy. To get them all out for 171 and then reduce them to 102/4 in their second innings, it will be a fantastic experience if we go on to win on Sunday,” he said.
For Baroda to win on Sunday, Swapnil will have a key role as he said that there was nothing on the pitch and whatever help for spinners is outside the corridor. He created one such dismissal when he bowled teenager Prithvi Shaw for 56 (70b, 7x4, 1x6) with one that pitched outside the left-stump and turned sharply to beat the forward-defensive right-hander and knock out the middle stump.
Until then, it was Swapnil the batsman who hogged the limelight. Ask him why it took so long to score a century, and that he scored the first of his eight first-class fifty three seasons ago, and he said:
“I have grown as a batsman. It has taken time to score a century. The last three years, I have been doing well, more so this season as I have the backing of the coach and the captain Deepak Hooda, they have promoted me to No. 5.
“Earlier, I was batting at No. 8 and 9. Either the tail-enders would get out or I would throw away my wicket,” Swapnil said. But not anymore.
Swapnil claims to be the youngest Ranji debutant when he turned up for Baroda against Hyderabad at Moti Bagh in January 2006 when he was 15 years and 255 days.
Apart from making 1 and 8, he bowled seven overs of off-spin. So much has changed since then apart from growing the beard since that day.
All he remembered of his debut nearly 12 years ago was that “there was a lot of limelight on me being the youngest debutant and that I bowled seven overs”.
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