Atharva Taide

Some Lesser Known Facts About Atharva Taide

• Atharva Taide is an Indian cricketer known for becoming the second cricketer to retire out in IPL history in the 15th over of Punjab Kings innings against Delhi Capitals (DC) after scoring 55 runs on 42 balls.

• He was fond of cricket since childhood. In an interview, his father said that he used to have many toys like small tricycles, dolls, action figures, and hot wheels cars when he was a child, but his favourite was his plastic ball and bat.

• When Atharva was a child, his father saw him holding a plastic bat with both hands and trying to hit an imaginary ball from all angles just like a shadow practice. After his father saw his dedication, he built a box net at their plot, got a bowling machine and also set up flood lights so that he could practice even during the dark.

• He used to practice cricket at the Akola Cricket Club Ground (ACC) in the morning. He used to change his uniform on the ground itself and attended school in the day. He used to return from school at 1 pm and again went for practice at around 3. Sometimes, he used to practice with his father in the nets till 1 in the morning. After some time, he took admission to Vengsarkar Cricket Academy.

• In an interview, his father revealed how he and his wife struggled with Atharva during his cricket journey. In the interview, he further said,
  

  I don’t remember Devyani (Atharva’s mother) and I ever travelling to relatives’ place for a function or get-together. Even during Diwali, it becomes a bit difficult for us as we are unable to go anywhere nor we are able to attend our guests properly. As a part of mental support I ensure that someone travels with Atharva during his tours and matches. Atharva scoring his triple century against Madhya Pradesh in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy is my favourite moment.”

• He debuted his FC matches for Vidarbha against Gujarat at Nagpur on 22 December 2018 in the 2018–19 Ranji Trophy.

  

• In December 2018, he was named in India’s team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

• On 20 September 2018, he debuted in List A matches for Vidarbha against Baroda at Bengaluru in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

• He was picked for the Indian U-19 team when he was playing the U-19 one-dayers for Vidarbha in Vinoo Mankad Trophy. He was the highest run-scorer in India after which he was selected to play the Asia Cup in Malaysia where he scored 177 against Sri Lanka.

• In 2018, in the final of the Cooch Vihar Trophy, he did the opening for Vidarbha and score 320 runs against Madhya Pradesh making the team win. His record was equal to Yuvraj Singh‘s record. After that, he was chosen to compete in the 2018 Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

• In 2018, he won the Irani Trophy for Vidarbha.

  

• He debuted in T20 matches against Himachal at Surat on 21 February 2019 in the 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

• In 2019, he was a member of the winning team of the Under-23 season 2019-20.

  

• In the final match of the 2019 Irani Trophy, he scored 72 runs and won the match.

• In 2020, he won the U23 Col. CK. Nayudu Trophy 2019/20.

  

• On 9 December 2021, he recorded his highest score in List A cricket which was 164 not out against Andhra Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

• Atharva was Vidarbha’s captain for the Under-19 Coochbehar Trophy.

  

• In January 2021, he achieved a dubious record by scoring 32 runs in an over in the Elite Group D match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.

• In February 2022, he was bought by the Punjab Kings for Rs. 20 Lakhs in the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League tournament. He turned down contracts from three UK clubs and waited for an IPL contract as he got many offers from different clubs because of his performance as the top scorer, with 1170 runs, for the ECB Nothern League, first division.

  

• In January 2023, he was named the Player of the Match in a match between Punjab and Vidarbha in Ranji Trophy.

  

• In February 2023, he slammed 144 runs on 63 balls and helped Mumbai Customs beat Air India by 56 runs at the University Ground.

• In 2023, when Atharva was asked to retire out in the 15th over of the IPL match between Punjab Kings innings against Delhi Capitals (DC) after scoring 55 runs on 42 balls, former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif criticised PBKS’s decision by giving the example of Rinku Singh and Rahul Tewatia. In the interview, he said,
  

  Extremely poor decision to ask him to come out. Why do you talk about Rinku Singh and Tewatia? Rinku Singh was a run-a-ball at the start and Tewatia was on 13 off 21 balls. They hit five sixes after that. Taide was scoring at a strike rate of 130 and was a set batter alongside Liam Livingstone. Livingstone was playing fast and Taide was performing his role. He is an uncapped player who was hitting fours and sixes. He had gotten his eye in and you asked him to come out when it was the time to hit sixes. Very bad decision because who came after that – Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan and Sam Curran – all of them came and got out. If the decision had been good, I would have praised them. If you check the stats, whenever such a thing has been done that a set batter has been asked to come out, how many times has the new batter won the match? Show me the stats, I will concede defeat.”