Eklavya Dwivedi has been integral to the team’s success as Uttar Pradesh remain unbeaten in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 2015-16. He is the second highest run-getter for the team with an average of 52.25 in the ongoing season.
Dwivedi once again played a crucial role to help continue UP’s unbeaten streak in the tournament as he partnered with Samarth Singh to help beat defending champions Gujarat and top the Group B table in the Super League. However, it is not only in the shortest format that he has played a vital role in his team’s success but also accumulated runs consistently in the one-day (229 runs in six matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy) and the multi day (426 runs in eight matches in Ranji Trophy) formats.
Speaking about his performance in the 2015-16 season, the batsman said, “I didn’t plan anything different (ahead of the season). I just wanted to be consistent for the team which has probably been lacking. I have been doing well for the past two years but before that the only problem with me was that though my game was always good it was the consistency that was lacking a little bit. So I just looked back into my game and tried to read what was happening in the past seasons and just came back better, stronger.
“It was the mental aspect (that I worked on); to stay calmer under pressure situations and shoulder more responsibility when the team needs it. Now I am a senior player in the team and there is added responsibility on us to get victory for the team,” he mentioned while talking about his preparation.
“I just meditate in the off season. When you are playing well you are already confident so you don’t have to plan so much,” he added.
The lanky batsman has batted in tricky circumstances and held the innings together on a few occasions. Elaborating on his role in the batting line-up Dwivedi said, “I have actually been used as a floating batsman. I have opened as well as batted at No. 3 when Raina bhai wasn’t there and now am batting at No. 4 or 5 depending on the situation.
“I like chasing scores down. Maybe its inbuilt or something, but once I have a target set in front of me it’s easier, to calculate and assess,” he added. Besides scoring runs, Dwivedi has also led UP in the absence of Suresh Raina. Discussing the leadership role that he has stepped into when required, Dwivedi said, “It was a great experience to lead in the absence of Raina bhai. It was great fun also because we have a really talented pool of youngsters to lead. It is not to really tell them what to do, but just to organise things on the field and shoulder responsibility of being captain on the
Under Raina, and on occasion, on Dwivedi’s leadership, UP have competed strongly in the various competitions. They have kept the oppositions on their toes as they look to making it to the finals of the T20 tournament. Reflecting on the team’s success in the competition so far, he said, “It is all about winning and once you start winning you get the momentum to just keep on winning every game; you stop thinking about the fear of failure that is present in abundance in our game. So you tend to stop thinking about all those negative things when you are winning. It is actually helpful (to do that and) so it is easier to carry on the momentum. Once you start winning everything becomes easy.
“It is good and whatever has been achieved and now we are looking to playing Delhi in the next game and winning,” Dwivedi concluded.
