Players to watch IPL 2019. Most Expensive Signings. Best Young Players in the IPL 2019
Varun Chakravarthy, the mystery spinner who cost Kings XI INR 8.4 crore is definitely a player to watch in this year's IPL but who is he and what has convinced a franchise to offer such a vast sum of money for player untested at this level?
Chakravarthy was a relative late comer to the sport, first playing the game at age 13 at which point he was attempting to become a wicket-keeper batsman. His failed attempts to make it through the various youth levels in Indian domestic cricket led to him turning his back on a career as pro-athlete and instead he began to train as an architect. Bored of his work as a freelancer and still playing tennis ball cricket what happened next may one day make the basis of decent Hollywood/Bollywood movie.
Chakravarthy transformed himself almost overnight into a spinner who can bowl almost every variation in the book. He played his way up through a few local leagues until he was competing for Siechem Madurai Panthers in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. If you've never heard of that team then there is probably a good reason for it as this is a team that failed to win a single match across 2 seasons only securing a point when one of their matches was rained off!
In typical Roy of the Rovers fashion, the darkest hour came right before the dawn and despite losing their opening match of the 2018 season to Dindigul Dragons (the side they would ultimately meet in the final), The Panther's roared back to win 5 of their remaining 6 round robin stage matches and then the final itself.
Chakravarthy's performance in the 2nd match helped to swing the moment for his side as he took 3-16 from his alloted 4 overs. No batsman was able to get on top of him during the tournament and by the time the knockout stages rolled around, teams were just happy to survive his spells as he delivered 0-13 (4 overs) in the elimination round and then 2-9 (4 overs) in the final.
From their he was fast tracked into his state side for India's premier domestic 50 over competition the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He finished as Tamil's leading wicket taker in the competition with 22 wickets at an average of 16.68 and an economy of just 4.23. That performance was enough to convince Tamil to give him his full first-class debut in a recent Ranji trophy game albeit that Chakravarthy could only deliver match figures of 1-105.
By the time the IPL auction rolled around in November last year, Chakravarthy had already had trials with several franchises and 2 of those sides CSK & KKR both entered into the bidding to sign him for this year's tournament. In fact it is easier to name the franchises who didn't bid for him as 6 teams all entered into a frenzied process that saw Chakravarthy's price go from 20 lakh to 8.4 Crore approx. 1.2 million dollars. From playing part-time tennis ball cricket to becoming an IPL millionaire in such a short space of time is some story and he is definitely worth paying close attention to in his debut IPL season.
What can we expect from Chakravarthy this year?
Chakravarthy is a typical modern-day T20 spinner. He bowls with pace and a relatively flat trajectory, managing to exert a bit of extra bounce from just short of a length. As such playing cross batted shots against him is high risk as these unfortunate batsmen all discovered.
He is also particularly adept at bowling in the powerplay and is also happy to close out an innings. Those skills will bring a lot to a Kings XI side who struggled in both phases of the game last year although Chakravarthy will have competition for a place in the side with Ravi Ashwin and Mujeeb Ur Rahman also at the franchise.
With Kings XI having revamped the majority of their squad following last year's failings Chakravarthy certainly has a chance to establish himself early on at this level of cricket. His first game is likely to come on 25th March as KXI travel to play the Rajasthan Royals, the team that I support and one that is likely to include at least 3 Englishmen. Let's see how they handle India's lastest spinning sensation and then who knows, given Chakravarthy's rapid rise to prominence would it be completely unrealistic to suggest he might grab a spot at the World Cup?
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