Varun Chakravarthy, IPL’s Rs 8.4 crore buy, gets hit for 25 in his debut over

In the IPL 2019 auctions, the name Varun Chakravarthy grabbed all the headlines. The Tamil Nadu mystery offspinner, who had done brilliantly in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, was picked up by King XI Punjab for Rs 8.4 crore, the joint-most expensive buy in the auction. Speaking to News Nation exclusively in December 2018, Chakravarthy had not done well in sports in school and had quit the game to pursue a career as an architect. Suddenly, one day, he had enough and was prepared to jump back in the game. He dusted his kitbag, got back into the cricketing fray and his journey began. “I was just not happy in architecture. I could not express myself. I decided to give one last shot in cricket. If I did not gain much success, I was prepared to stay in architecture,” Chakaravarthy said in an exclusive chat to News Nation.

In the game against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Chakravarthy was selected to make his debut and all eyes were on the 27-year-old who was bought for 42 times his base price. Chakravarthy was selected to bowl the second over. After Chris Lynn nudged a flighted ball to midwicket, Chakravarthy prepared to bowl to Sunil Narine but from that point, things went pear-shaped.

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Chakravarthy floated a full ball outside off and Narine swung through the line to deposit the delivery to long off. After drilling the third delivery past Chakravarthy for a couple down the ground, things went from bad to worse for the Tamil Nadu spinner. The fourth ball was hammered to deep midwicket for a boundary while the fifth ball was pummeled into the stands at deep midwicket for a six. The sixth ball was a quicker one and Narine walloped him over deep backward square leg as Chakravarthy conceded 25 runs in his first over.

His second over did not get any better as Robin Uthappa creamed him for two boundaries and he had figires of 2-0-34-0. However, he had some redemption when he bowled his third over when he deceived Nitish Rana, who was blazing away to 63 off 33 balls, was caught by Mayank Agarwal at long off for his first wicket. He conceded only one run as he bowled slower and gave the air more flight as he ended with figures of 3-0-35-1. Kolkata Knight Riders registered their second win of IPL 2019 by defeating Kings XI Punjab by 28 runs.

Chakravarthy’s 25-run opening over beat the previous record held by Cameron White of Australia when he conceded 24 runs in his first over in IPL 2008 during the clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders at the M Chinnaswamy stadium which was the first match of the IPL. In the same match, Ashley Noffke of Australia also conceded 22 runs in his opening over. In the 2011 IPL clash between Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils, Virender Sehwag blasted 23 runs in one over bowled by debutant Ishan Malhotra.

Ishwar Pandey and Sri Lanka’s Chamara Silva conceded 21 runs in their debut opening overs in the 2013 and 2008 IPL editions. Despite a poor start, Chakravarthy earned some form of redemption and he would be hoping to put up a better performance.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Varun Chakravarthy was bought for Rs 8.4 crore by Kings XI Punjab.
• Jaydev Unadkat was also bought for Rs 8.4 crore by Rajasthan Royals.
• Varun Chakravarthy was hit for 25 runs in his debut over by Sunil Narine.