Watch: Sunil Narine Blows Away Costliest Player In The Auction Varun Chakravarthy
Mar 27, 2019 at 10:32 PM
A handful of months ago, Varun Chakravarthy was all over the news after becoming the costliest player at this season’s IPL auction. The uncapped Tamil Nadu player, whose base price was INR 20 lakhs, went to Kings XI Punjab for a staggering amount of INR 8.4 crore. It was the joint-highest bid at the auction.
He had hogged the limelight after impressing in the Tamil Nadu Premier League where he helped Siechem Madurai Panthers to their maiden title. In the first two seasons of the league, Madurai did not win a single game and their winless streak stretched to 15 when they lost their first match of the 2018 season to Dindigul Dragons.
He then took 3 for 16 against Chepauk Super Gillies to help Madurai seal their maiden win. As the season progressed, Varun continued to impress. Overall, he bowled 40 overs, and incredibly 125 balls were dots. His economy rate of 4.7 was the best among bowlers who had bowled at least 15 overs.
No surprises then that the fans were desperate to see Varun in action against the big boys in the IPL. Kings XI Punjab did not include him in the playing eleven for the first game but gave him a chance in the second against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. And it took him only six deliveries to realise that Indian Premier League is completely a different ball game. R Ashwin gave Varun the opportunity to make his mark in the powerplay but the move backfired. In the second over of the game, he conceded 25 runs in his first over with Sunil Narine hitting him for three sixes and a four.
Here is a clip of that over from Varun Chakravarthy:
https://twitter.com/AnkushD86744515/status/1110933655969546241?fbclid=IwAR2l4DDf36pzcTfOlKGsfhfeYJsJuN5JqOlamQBrikmuQNuZNU4k8VVO3Sg
Varun Chakravarthy, however, recovered well and conceded just ten in his next two overs in addition to picking up the wicket of in-form Nitish Rana to finish with 1 for 35 off three overs.