Crisis man Akshay Wadkar does it again

INDORE: In 2012-13 season, everything was going well for Akshay Wadkar. He had an excellent One-day tournament where he impressed the national selectors. He was talked about highly by the experts when his life turned upside down. He came down with dengue and his condition became critical with platelet count reaching almost 1 lakh just before Cooch Behar Trophy. "I had advised him to take proper rest but such was his passion that he used to come to Kalamna ground, which is quite far away from the city. He used to see us practise, hiding behind a tree. I haven't seen anyone mentally stronger than Akshay. For me, it is not surprising to see him perform. He has this amazing ability to absorb pressure," Wadkar's Under-19 coach Kiran Powar told TOI on Sunday. Although Wadkar had missed first three matches of Cooch Behar Trophy due to dengue, he came back strongly and scored a fifty each in the next three matches against Tripura, Delhi and Gujarat. His twin centuries against Jammu & Kashmir gave Vidarbha an Elite berth. Wadkar was the first Vidarbha Under-19 player to score centuries in each innings. Overall, he was only second from Vidarbha after Amit Deshpande to achieve this feat. ?"When you are in crisis, he is the man you can look up to. He relishes these situations," Powar said. The crisis man stood up to the challenge again. His unbeaten 133 (243b, 16x4, 1x6) and his seventh-wicket fighting stand with his Navniketan Club teammate Aditya Sarvate (79, 154b, 11x4) revived Vidarbha's fortune after they had lost Wasim Jaffer in the first hour of play. The duo batted with determination and guts to thwart Delhi attack. Later, his unbeaten 113-run stand with Siddhesh Neral (53, 92b, 4x4, 4x6), who scored his maiden first-class fifty, pushed the opposition nearly out of the contest. When Wadkar, now 23, walked in to bat, Navdeep Saini was spitting fire. "There was pressure obviously because we were still trailing. It was important that I stuck around. It was crucial to build a partnership. If we had lost a wicket, we may not have taken a lead," Wadkar said after day's play. "There was some movement in the beginning. Wasim bhai told me not to worry about the swing, he just asked me to watch the ball," he added. All of Wadkar's hundreds for Vidarbha at different levels have come in difficult situations. Last year, Vidarbha Under-23 were asked to follow on against Mumbai. Had Vidarbha lost, they would not have qualified for the knock-outs. Wadkar batted entire day to see Vidarbha through, just like he did it on Sunday. It was his maiden first class hundred and what better occasion than this?"I did not even think I would score a hundred. My only plan was to stay not out and make the team win with my contribution," he said. Wadkar was one of the heroes for Vidarbha in the quarter and semifinal. He wasn't the first choice wicketkeeper for Vidarbha. When Jitesh Sharma and Siddhesh Wath couldn't live up to expectations, Vidarbha turned to Wadkar. He didn't disappoint. "I worked really hard last year and initially I wasn't picked in the team so I performed in local matches. After scoring two hundreds and three fifties I was picked in the team. I just wanted to perform whenever I got the chance," he said. "In the quarterfinal, we were not in a good position. I like performing in such situations. I have confidence that I can bail my team out of trouble," he said.