“Neither happy nor satisfied. It’s still not time to celebrate. I’ll be happy only when we take firm command on the game.”

Atharva Taide (143, 283m, 15×4, 1×6) may have sounded prophetic, echoing the tone of cricketing idols who speak only after converting starts into milestones. But the diminutive Vidarbha opener meant what he said after the opening day’s proceedings of the Irani Cup.

Having crafted a patient century against the Rest of India at Jamtha, the Vidarbha opener preferred to speak of composure and balance rather than celebration. While he carried on in the same vein on the second morning before misreading offie Saransh Jain’s arm-ball, the game remained in balance.

But for the left-hander, it was a defining innings. To occupy the crease for well over eight hours was a statement in itself. After enduring an average last season — one that ended with him being left out of Vidarbha’s Ranji Trophy final XI — Taide had walked into this season with the determination to reset. Hours of work in the nets had assured him that his batting was in order.

“I have been working hard for the last two or three years but the results just didn’t show in matches. Frustration did creep in to an extent,” he admitted. “So I told myself to keep believing in the process, not get desperate, and not be carried away by success either.”

On Wednesday, fortune and focus combined to give him the opportunity he craved. Bowled off the first delivery by Akash Deep when he was on 1, Taide survived thanks to a no-ball call. Soon after, a simple chance was spilled in the slips (9) off Anshul Kamboj before Ishan Kishan misjudged a regulation edge (36) off Akash just before Lunch. “Perhaps it was my day after the no-ball, but I had to cash in and bat long,” he said.

The compact left-hander did just that, playing within himself in the first session before blossoming into fluency alongside fellow southpaw Yash Rathod. His century — raised with a clean strike over long-on — was not a flourish of flashiness but a reflection of situational awareness. “I don’t see myself as flashy or a stayer. I play to the situation and to what the team needs,” he explained.

For Vidarbha, Taide’s return to form could not have been better timed. For Taide himself, the hundred was less about redemption than about re-establishing faith in himself.

Published on Oct 02, 2025