Indian cricket was searching hard for fast bowlers at the beginning of the 2000s when a tall, wiry Mumbai quick suddenly appeared with something instantly recognisable about him. The upright approach, high bowling arm and economical action bore such a resemblance to Glenn McGrath that comparisons with the Australian great followed almost immediately. Contemporary reports described the action as “McGrath-esque” and even “almost identical”, while the young pacer had himself studied and modelled aspects of his bowling on McGrath.
The resemblance might have attracted attention, but the wickets ensured it was not merely a curiosity. A 2002-03 Ranji Trophy season brought 28 wickets from only six matches, before an India A tour of the Caribbean produced an extraordinary 29 wickets, including three five-wicket hauls and a ten-wicket match haul. Against Jamaica, the figures were 5/39 in an innings and 10/134 in the match. By the time India returned from the 2003 World Cup, the fast bowler who had been among the tournament’s 30 provisional probables was suddenly knocking hard on the senior team’s door.
An ODI debut followed in April 2003 and immediately brought 2/15 from seven overs. Six months later, selection for India’s Test squad against New Zealand came, with contemporary reports even suggesting that the rookie could partner Zaheer Khan ahead of Lakshmipathy Balaji. By November, the selectors had gone further: the 22-year-old was chosen for India’s four-Test tour of Australia, the series that would eventually feature Sourav Ganguly’s Brisbane hundred, Rahul Dravid’s Adelaide epic and Ajit Agarkar’s famous six-wicket haul. The young quick was supposed to be part of it.
Aavishkar Salvi never reached Australia. An acute shoulder injury suffered while playing against Australia at Eden Gardens forced him out of the tour only days after his selection. That match became his fourth and final ODI for India, leaving one of the most rapidly promoted fast bowlers of his generation with an international career consisting of just four matches and four wickets.
From chemical engineering to the India team
Salvi’s rise was unusual even before the wickets began arriving. He took cricket seriously relatively late, at around 18, while studying for a diploma in chemical engineering. When selection for Mumbai’s Under-19 side created a choice between education and cricket, his family gave him two years to prove that the game could become a viable career.
A 21-day coaching camp conducted by former England fast bowler Frank Tyson became pivotal. Salvi later described it as the turning point of his career, crediting Tyson with improving his action, accuracy and consistency. Former Mumbai captain and fast bowler Paras Mhambrey also worked extensively with him, particularly on the use of his front arm, as Salvi developed into a bowler capable of generating pace and bounce while maintaining the control that had fuelled the McGrath comparisons.
The progress was rapid. Salvi made his first-class debut for Mumbai during the 2001-02 season, and the 28 wickets in six Ranji matches the following campaign moved him into national contention. India then sent him with the A side to the West Indies, where his 29 wickets transformed promise into a compelling selection argument. Interim India A coach Ashok Malhotra regarded him as one of the finds of the tour, while Salvi’s 10-wicket match against Jamaica stood out as the peak of a hugely productive trip.
India had already included him among 30 provisional players for the 2003 World Cup, but Salvi did not make the final 15 that reached the final in South Africa. His Caribbean performances soon brought another opportunity. With Javagal Srinath rested after the World Cup and Ashish Nehra unavailable through injury, Salvi was called into the ODI squad for a triangular tournament in Bangladesh involving India, Bangladesh and South Africa.
His India debut on April 11, 2003, was also Gautam Gambhir’s first ODI. Sourav Ganguly gave Salvi the new ball against Bangladesh, and the newcomer struck in his opening over when Mehrab Hossain was trapped leg-before for a duck. Mohammad Ashraful followed for five, caught by Virender Sehwag at slip, as Salvi finished with 2/15 from seven overs and India bowled Bangladesh out for 76.
Salvi played three matches in that tournament, taking four wickets at an average of 24. Against South Africa, his tight opening spell helped reduce the opposition to early trouble, while India coach John Wright publicly described him as an “outstanding prospect” who had added significantly to India’s fast-bowling depth. With Australia due to host India later that year, Wright was already discussing Salvi as part of the group of seamers who could succeed outside the subcontinent.
Test cricket seemed even closer. India selected Salvi for the first Test against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in October 2003, leaving out the more experienced Agarkar. One contemporary selection report suggested Salvi was more likely than Balaji to accompany Zaheer in the XI. Ganguly eventually chose Balaji, who made his Test debut alongside Aakash Chopra, leaving Salvi among the reserves.
The next Test brought the first cruel interruption. During practice before the Mohali match, Salvi split the webbing of his right hand badly enough to require stitches. India replaced him in the squad with Agarkar. What could have been another chance at a Test debut disappeared before the match began.
Salvi recovered quickly enough to return for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and immediately showed why India remained interested. Against Baroda at the Wankhede in November, he took 5/42, removing Connor Williams, Jacob Martin and eventually Nayan Mongia for 74. Salvi admitted afterwards that the upcoming Australian tour was at the back of his mind. The performance could hardly have been timed better.
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On November 16, India’s selectors named their squad for the four Tests in Australia. Salvi was in it, alongside Zaheer, Nehra, Agarkar and another young fast bowler whose international journey was only beginning, Irfan Pathan. The selection represented perhaps the biggest opportunity of Salvi’s career: Australian pitches appeared ideally suited to the bounce and control that had driven the McGrath comparisons.
Two days later, everything changed. India faced Australia in the TVS Cup final at Eden Gardens on November 18. Salvi managed only three overs, conceding 23 runs, after suffering what was diagnosed as an acute shoulder sprain. Team physio Andrew Leipus expected him to be unable to play competitive cricket for at least four weeks. Balaji was summoned to take his place on the plane to Australia.
The consequences became much larger than anyone could have known that evening. Balaji travelled to Australia, while Pathan made his Test debut during the series. India drew 1-1 in one of their most celebrated overseas campaigns. Salvi, meanwhile, never played another match for the senior Indian team.
Injury problems repeatedly disrupted the career that followed. He returned to Mumbai and remained a useful domestic seamer, but the extraordinary momentum of 2002 and 2003 was gone. By the end of his first-class career, Salvi had still assembled respectable numbers: 169 wickets from 62 matches at 25.72, including seven five-wicket hauls and one ten-wicket match. His 52 List A appearances brought another 71 wickets.
There was, however, one wonderfully unusual McGrath-related postscript. Salvi joined Delhi Daredevils in the IPL and played regularly for them in 2009. Glenn McGrath was part of the same squad, but did not play a single match that season as Delhi preferred combinations involving Dirk Nannes and Indian seamers, including Salvi, Ashish Nehra and Pradeep Sangwan. The young bowler whose action had once been compared endlessly with McGrath’s was, for a brief period, getting into the XI while McGrath himself sat outside it.
Salvi’s playing career eventually ended after the 2012-13 domestic season, but cricket offered him a considerably longer second innings. He moved into coaching, initially working with Puducherry before taking assignments with Oman and later Punjab. In 2023, he coached Punjab to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title, ending a three-decade wait for a senior domestic trophy.
His journey has since brought him back into the Indian setup in a role far removed from the four-ODI career that once seemed certain to become much more. Salvi became bowling coach of the India women’s team and was part of the support staff when India won the Women’s ODI World Cup in 2025. He remains associated with the side as bowling coach in 2026.
For a brief period in 2003, however, the possibilities had looked very different. Salvi had taken 29 wickets for India A in the Caribbean, impressed on his ODI debut, entered India’s Test squad and then earned selection for one of the most important Australian tours in the country’s history. At 22, the bowler whose action had made McGrath an unavoidable reference point appeared to have arrived at precisely the moment India were building a new generation of fast bowlers.
A split webbing cost him one possible Test opportunity. A shoulder injury cost him the flight to Australia. The ODI in which that second injury occurred became his last for India, leaving the man once regarded as one of the country’s outstanding fast-bowling prospects with an international career of four matches.