Chetan Sakariya

His path into the game was far from smooth. He grew up in a family of five where money was scarce, and his parents hoped he would settle into a secure government job rather than chase cricket. It was his maternal uncle who backed him through the lean years. Sakariya first saw himself as a batter, but he turned to left-arm pace once his bowling began attracting attention at school. Appearances in tennis-ball tournaments and for his school side led him to the Sir Bhavsinhji Cricket Academy, where he trained under Rajendra Gohil. So stretched were his resources that he had no cricket spikes of his own until Saurashtra senior Sheldon Jackson gave him a pair.

He quickly earned a place in the Saurashtra Under-16 team, but bowling through a glute problem made it worse and cost him most of the next year. His breakthrough came in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, where 18 wickets in 6 matches persuaded Saurashtra to send him to the MRF Pace Foundation, where he also picked up guidance from Glenn McGrath. He joined the senior squad for the 2018-19 season, sat out the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and featured once in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. When Jaydev Unadkat was injured, Sakariya got his Ranji Trophy chance and claimed 29 wickets in 8 matches before a stress fracture halted him.

Off the field, his responsibilities grew heavy. His father, a transport driver, had to stop working because of poor health, leaving Sakariya as the family's sole earner. The Rajasthan Royals then bought him for INR 1.2 crore at the 2021 IPL Auction, a life-changing amount. Only weeks earlier, while he was away playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and without his knowledge, his younger brother had died by suicide. Sakariya still produced 14 wickets in 14 IPL matches that season, only to lose his father to Covid-19 as the tournament neared its end. At the 2022 IPL Auction, the Delhi Capitals signed him for INR 4.2 crore.