Left-arm Indian pacer Chetan Sakariya's life changed in 2021. He was selected by Rajasthan Royals for ₹1.2 crore in the Indian Premier League 2021 players' auction held in February this year. 22-year-old Sakariya managed to impress a lot of fans and critics with his penetrating bowling as he picked up 7 wickets in as many games for RR.
It was a life-changing experience for Sakariya and something that also helped him financially. As India is in midst of a devastating second Covid-19 wave, the rate of infections has risen astronomically. Sakariya's father also got diagnosed with the virus. The RR pacer revealed that the money received from IPL helped his family in this tough time.
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“I was lucky because I had received my part payment from Rajasthan Royals a few days ago. I straight away transferred money back home, and that is helping my family the most in my toughest time,” Sakariya told The Indian Express.
“People are saying stop IPL. I want to tell them something, I am the only bread earner in my family. Cricket is the only source of my earnings. I can give better treatment to my father because of the money I earned from IPL. Had this tournament not happened for a month, it would have been tougher for me. I come from a poor family, my father all his life drove tempo and because of IPL my whole life was about to change,” said the left-arm speedster.
{{/usCountry}}“People are saying stop IPL. I want to tell them something, I am the only bread earner in my family. Cricket is the only source of my earnings. I can give better treatment to my father because of the money I earned from IPL. Had this tournament not happened for a month, it would have been tougher for me. I come from a poor family, my father all his life drove tempo and because of IPL my whole life was about to change,” said the left-arm speedster.
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In his first game in IPL, Sakariya recorded timpressive figures of 3-31 in his four overs after Punjab Kings posted a big figure of 221. The young player managed to take out KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Jhye Richardson.
The 23-year-old dismissed the likes of Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni when RR faced Chennai Super Kings.