Chetan Sakariya was named in India’s squad to tour Sri Lanka for six limited-overs games (3 ODIs and 3 T20Is). Welcome to Chetan Sakariya biography and story
Chetan Sakariya was one of the finds of IPL 2021. The young left-arm pacer from Gujarat caught everyone’s attention as soon as he played his first game in the IPL. Sakariya was born on 28th February 1988 in a small village called Vartej which is 180 km from Rajkot, Gujarat.
The financial conditions of Sakariya’s family were very poor. His father was a tempo driver and used to transport goods to feed his family. Life was hard for Sakariya and his family wanted him to become an engineer but fate had other plans for him.
Chetan Sakariya Biography: Career
Sakariya was playing in a school district competition when he impressed Rajendra Gohil, coach of Sir Bhasinji Cricket Academy. He instantly asked Sakariya to join the academy and very soon Sakariya was selected for the Saurashtra U-16 team. He didn’t get to play.
Chetan’s dreams suffered a big blow as he suffered a glute injury at the age of 17. He told ESPNCricinfo that, “When I was 17, I got a glute injury. That time I didn’t realize what it was. It used to hurt a lot but I just kept on bowling. As a result, it got aggravated. During that time my pace had also dropped.”
He also added that he didn’t know the concept of rehab back then and it took about 7-8 months to completely heal by itself.
First-Class Debut
Sakariya made his List-A debut for Saurashtra on 22nd February 2018 in the 2017-18 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He didn’t even have his own spikes at that time. Sheldon Jackson was impressed with the youngster in the Cooch Behar Trophy and told him that he’ll buy him a pair of spikes if he can get him out in the nets.
Chetan bowled him in the nets and that’s he got his first pair of spikes. He made his Ranji Trophy debut in November 2018 and picked up 5-wickets in his debut innings. He took 29 wickets in that season. Sakariya made his T20 debut in 2018-19 SMA Trophy in February 2019.
Sakariya got another roadblock as he suffered a stress fracture of the back and was out for four and a half months.
Personal Loss
Chetan Sakariya was very close to his elder brother. His brother committed suicide when he was playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. His family didn’t tell him about this for ten days. Sakariya didn’t talk to anyone for a week when got this news.
IPL Debut
Three weeks after this tragedy, Sakariya was brought by the Rajasthan Royals for a whopping INR 1.20 Crore. This was a huge moment for Sakariya and his family who went through a lot before that. Sakariya said that he wanted to buy his parents a new home in Rajkot.
Sakariya impressed everyone in the IPL. he picked 7 wickets in 7 games. He showed his class by picking up the wickets of MS Dhoni, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, etc. IPL 2021 was life-changing for him and his family.
Chetan Sakariya Biography And Story: Bowler Gets Called Up For India Team Debut vs Sri Lanka
Everything was going well for Sakariya but he had to suffer another tragedy as his father passed away due to Covid on May 9th, 2021. It was a very hard time for Chetan and his family.
India’s squad to tour Sri Lanka for an ODI and a T20I series was announced on June 10th, 2021, and Sakariya was selected for the tour.
“I wish my father had been here to see this. He wanted me to play for India. God has made me see ups and downs in a span of one year. It has been a very emotional ride so far” Sakariya told The Indian Express.
Sakariya’s journey has been an inspirational one and everyone around the country and in the cricketing fraternity will like to see him perform well in the Indian jersey.
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