When Akshay Karnawar started playing cricket, he was a right-arm off-spin bowler. However, he threw with his left hand and then his junior coach Balu Navaghare urged his 13-year-old student to bowl left-arm spin as well.
Karnavar heeded the advice and soon became proficient with styles. In other words, he became an ambidextrous spinner who could bowl with his right arm or left whenever the mood was bad or the circumstances demanded.
Read also: A day after bowling four maiden overs in a T20 match, Karnevar took a hat-trick
In 2008, Karnawar, a resident of Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district, got another advice. This time the suggestion came from former Mumbai cricketer Sulakshana Kulkarni, who had asked the youngster to start bowling in BCCI-backed competitions.
Eventually, he made his debut for Vidarbha in 2015 during a List A match in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He made an immediate impact first with his astonishing ability to bowl equally well with both hands. And then with his performance he took two wickets and scored 72 runs with the bat even though his team lost that game. He will finish with 16 wickets by any Vidarbha bowler during a domestic tournament.
Fast forward to 2021, Karnawar became the first bowler to bowl four maiden overs in a men’s professional T20 match during the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Playing at the ACA Stadium in Mangalagiri (Vijayawada), Karnawar took two wickets giving three consecutive maiden overs against Manipur while bowling to the left-arm spinners. He was dropped from the attack and brought back later and conceded six more dot balls to achieve the feat.
His stats read: 4-4-2-0.
He didn’t stop there. The next day, on Wednesday, Karnawar took a hat-trick in another major victory, with Vidarbha taking on Sikkim at the same venue. His stats read: 4-1-5-2.
in an interview with Dainik Bhaskar In 2015, Karnavar revealed that his father is a bus driver, earning Rs 12,000 per month.
After achieving a unique achievement on Tuesday, the 29-year-old told The Times of India“It’s unbelievable. Not conceding a single run in the whole match is extraordinary and I feel really good.”
get all IPL news and cricket score Here
,