There were surprises galore at the player auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 held at Jaipur on Tuesday.
Rajasthan Royals once again broke the bank to retain the services of Jaydev Unadkat, even as the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Kiwi stalwart Brendon McCullum were ignored.
The biggest surprise of the auction, however, was Varun Chakravarthy. Kings XI Punjab spent INR 8.4 crore for the spinner, making him the joint costliest player along with Unadkat at the auction.
But not many knew about the player, who can bowl as many as seven variations – Off break, Legbreak, Googly, Carrom ball, Flipper, Topspinner, Slider.
Here's a brief on Varun Chakravarthy:
He is an architect-turned-cricketer, who started playing cricket at the age of 13. He was a wicketkeeper-batsman until 17. Today, the 27-year-old is known for his mystery spin.
Reports claimed that he once ditched the game to pursue a degree in architecture at the SRM University in Chennai. He even worked as a freelance architect.
But the love of cricket keeps him true to himself. He quit the job and joined CromBest Cricket Club as a seam-bowling all-rounder.
Like in many other stories about pacers becoming spinners, a knee injury forced Chakravarthy to change his options.
According to ESPNCricinfo, he In 2017-18, he bagged 31 wickets in seven games at an average of 8.26 and economy rate of 3.06 in the one-day Chennai League.
Then, earlier this year, he helped Siechem Madurai Panthers win the Tamil Nadu Premier League.
By the way, his base price was only INR 20 lakhs.
