Varun Chakravarthy is the latest edition to IPL’s ever-growing rags-to-riches stories. Although Varun does not hail from a poor financial background, his staggering IPL deal pretty much will leave him astonished as well as the cricketing world.
In 2017-18, Varun bagged 31 wickets in seven games at an average of 8.26 and economy rate of 3.06 in the one-day competition for Jubilee Cricket Club in the fourth division of the robust Chennai League. He also contributed with the bat, his unbeaten 74 sealing Jubilee’s one-wicket win over Prithvi Cricket Club in February this year.
He further enhanced his reputation with a scintillating performance in the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2018. He helped Siechem Madurai Panthers win their maiden title. Varun bowled 40 overs and bowled a mind-boggling 125 balls were dots. His economy rate of 4.7 was the best among bowlers who had bowled at least 15 overs.
Prior to that, he had bowled in the Chennai Super Kings nets. He spent four days with CSK side in the 2018 season before the franchise’s home games were moved out of Chennai to Pune. About two weeks later, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik and team analyst AR Srikkanth called Varun to bowl at the KKR nets.
He also had a good outing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, ending as the top wicket-taker in the group stage, with 22 wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 4.23.
Well, the mystery spinner did create a bidding war and became the costliest player in the auction when he was sold. After seeing off competition from almost all the other teams, Kings XI Punjab signed Varun for INR 8.40 crore. Varun had entered the auction at the base price of INR 20 lakh.