Jaipur, Faiz Fazal, a domestic veteran and Ranji Trophy winning skipper with Vidarbha recently named Australia’s Tim Paine and India’s Virat Kohli as two of the best captains in the world right now. In a recent interaction on Sports Tiger’s show ‘Off the Field’, on being asked who the best captain in the world, Faiz said, “I am a fan of Tim Paine, he is very good as a Test captain, Virat is also very good in Tests.”
He also shared his experience of being a captain and how difficult it is to be a captain. He said, “I love captaining Vidarbha. I have been very fortunate to get some amazing cricketers in my side. Even when I was leading in the Duleep Trophy, I had some amazing cricketers in that team as well.” He also added, “You cannot teach a lot, it comes naturally.”
Faiz has had exceptional domestic seasons in the past few years where he has led his team Vidarbha to back to back Ranji Trophy title victories in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
On being asked about him not getting a call to the national team after scoring a half century in his debut match, Faiz said, “The competition in team India is very tight, I feel very fortunate that I played for India because that was the aim, to play for the country. Nothing can be compared with that. But I still aim to play for the Test team. But, yes, I feel disappointed that I could not continue my place in the Indian team.”
He added, “The game itself is my motivation and I love playing cricket at any stage. That’s why even in the off season, unfortunately this season, I could not go but I always travel to UK and plays the premier league there.”
Faiz also spoke about the young cricketers in the country. From the current U-19 Indian cricket team, Priyam Garg is someone Faiz believes is a really great talent who will make it big. During the show, on being asked about his fondest memories on the cricket field, Faiz said, “When I got my India cap and second is when I got the Ranji Trophy in my hands.”
A champion domestic cricketer who scored 1001 and 942 first class runs in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively, FaizFazal also represented India in a solitary ODI against Zimbabwe in 2016 where he scored a half century.