The Tamil Nadu cricketer Varun Chakravarthy wanted to have a career in architecture but he could not stop thinking of the sport even during his studies. He became an overnight sensation on social media after bagging a whopping sum of money from Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the last year auction.
In a video posted on KKR’s official Instagram page, Varun explained how he connected cricket’s concepts with the architecture for better learning. He even chose a cricket stadium for the thesis during graduation.
“Somewhere in my concept of any design in a building I used to bring cricket in. Architecture is all about lines and angles. Even bowling is all about lines, lengths, angles of what you are bowling. So somewhere, I was able to connect it. Even my thesis, my fifth-year thesis, was a cricket stadium,” Varun Chakravarthy said.
In IPL 2019, Kings XI Punjab bought the spinner Varun Chakravarthy for mind-boggling INR 8.4 Crore even though he had only played nine List A matches and one T20 in domestic cricket. Unfortunately, the bowler sustained a shoulder injury after playing his IPL debut match. Moreover, he conceded 35 runs in three overs in that match becoming an expensive player for KXIP.
Varun Chakravarthy bought for INR 4 crore in IPL 2020 auction:
Subsequently, the Punjab-based franchise released the player ahead of IPL 2020 auction. Varun was surrounded by self-doubts along the way but he didn’t give up. He got the hope after KKR called him for nets where his bowling came under the microscope. The Kolkata based franchise won his service after winning the bidding war against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for Rs. 4 crores.
Varun Chakravarthy also opened up that his parents and even he couldn’t believe that two franchises were bidding for him. Notably, He entered for the auction for the base price of INR 30 Lakh.
“For a person who wanted to have a career in architecture, all this happening, my parents – they couldn’t believe what was happening. It was like a movie. I didn’t expect anything more than the base price. But, something else happened. I was even trending on Twitter, with ‘Who is Varun Chakravarthy?’…it was crazy,” the spinner added.
The 29-year-old cricketer will feature in the upcoming IPL edition. This time the uncapped player will try to justify the price tag with him.