Duleep Trophy 2024-25: Shashwat Rawat scored 124 & 53 against India C and received player of the match. Who is Shashwat Rawat and all you need to know about him.
The eventful Duleep Trophy 2024/25 season has nearly approached its business end. Throughout September, Bengaluru and Anantapur became major epicentres for spotting rising talents. Many unheard youngsters came to the fore with their A-game, and experts believe they may have a resounding career ahead of them. This notion couldn’t have been wrong during the sixth Duleep Trophy encounter between India A and India C at Anantapur.
India A batter, Shashwat Rawat, stole headlines by smashing a valiant ton in the first innings and later followed it up with a solid fifty to power his side to a healthy lead upwards of 300. While the fate of this match remains unknown at the time of writing, this 23-year-old youngster has already played a valuable part with the bat, which is certainly worthy of praise. But who is Shashwat Rawat, and what are his chances of making it in India’s colours in a competition-dominated era? Read on as we look to unravel more about his background and what the future holds for him.
Shashwat Rawat: Background, team, and batting position
Shashwat Gopal Rawat was born on April 6, 2001, in the small village town of Gajiwali, situated in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand. The 23-year-old bats left-handed and is used as an occasional medium-pace bowling option. He is predominantly a top-order batter and bats at number 3. Shashwat currently represents Baroda in First Class and List-A cricket, while in the ongoing Duleep Trophy edition, he is playing for India A. He made his T20 debut on November 4, 2021, for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021–22.
Moreover, the young, talented batter has also featured in state-franchise cricket, most notably the Uttarakhand Premier League, and played a pivotal role in the Pithoragarh Champs’ success. Previously, he was also a part of the India Under-19 Cricket World Cup squad that toured South Africa in 2020. He has represented India in 18 YODI matches and has scored 245 runs at a strike rate of 85.36 with one fifty against Afghanistan.
Shaswat’s overall domestic numbers are prolific. He averages over 50 in FC cricket with 5 centuries and 5 half-centuries to his name. But in comparison to white-ball domestic cricket, his numbers are not that tall. However, with only 7 List-A and 2 T20 appearances, it may be too premature to judge his true batting prowess in the white-ball format.
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Stand out Duleep Trophy knock
Shashwat came in to bat at a tricky time when his side, India A, were in dire straits and reduced to 36-5, thanks to devastating spells from Anshul Kamboj and Vijaykumar Vyshak. India A were in danger of collapsing too early, and they needed someone to stand up and stabilise the sinking ship. In such a crisis, Shashwat Rawat stood tall by smashing a counter-attacking century (124 off 250), featuring 14 fours. His crushing ton denied India C the opportunity of an imminent victory. He paired with Shams Mulani and constructed a useful 87-run stand and later went on to register handy partnerships with the tail to drag India A to a respectable first-innings score of 297.
He looked confident against spinners and scored most of the runs against them. However, the way he went about batting with the tail under pressure was nothing short of commendable. In his 250-ball innings, numerous challenges were thrown at him, and while wickets continued to tumble at the other end, he displayed a sense of calmness in the middle to weather his side out of the storm. Not only were they out of the woods, but India A was able to secure a vital 63-run lead on the back of this impressive century from Shaswat Rawat.
India A were able to capitalise further as Shashwat Rawat’s 53 (67) and Riyan Parag’s 73 (101) allowed them to stretch their lead to a mammoth 349 runs. Shashwat has shown his grit and ability to play the long innings. The Uttarakhand-born youngster has the appetite to churn out some massive runs and has played the role of a crisis man on several instances in the domestic arena. Before this Duleep Trophy clash, Shashwat smashed 124 against Mumbai, 93 against Uttarakhand, 105 against Madhya Pradesh, 102 against Odisha, and a swashbuckling 207 against Himachal, all of which came in 2024 alone.
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What future lies ahead of Shashwat Rawat?
Shashwat is only 23 years old, with some noteworthy milestones to his name. The youngster is already on the right path and has a long way to go in his professional cricketing career. With more games under his belt, he will be able to evolve his white-ball exploits. But if he continues to deliver such big scores consistently in FC cricket, he could soon earn his maiden call-up for team India in the Test arena. Shashwat has shown his resilience at the FC level and has earned first-hand experience in absorbing pressure in testing circumstances. After all, Test cricket is all about absorbing pressure and involves batting with immense concentration for long hours.
In his 250-ball innings against India C, Shashwat has demonstrated his character and his ability to take the fight to the opposition, a style of play which India occasionally finds itself short on in overseas conditions. But the youngster will have to undergo a series of challenges to break into the star-studded batting lineup of India. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are ever-present figures in the top order, and with several others like Dhruv Jurel and Rajat Patidar vying for a spot, the competition for the young Shashwat Rawat is only expected to intensify.
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