Soon after reaching home in Bhavnagar after the IPL was halted due to the COVID-19 cases within the bubble, Rajasthan Royals’ Chetan Sakariya had to rush to hospital.
The fast bowler’s father has recently tested positive for COVID-19.
“I was lucky because I had received my part payment from Rajasthan Royals a few days ago. I straightaway transferred money back home, and that is helping my family the most in my toughest time,” Sakariya was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
For domestic players like Sakariya, uncapped and without a central contract, money from the IPL is a source of livelihood.
“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,” says Sakariya, who was picked for Rs 1.20 crores at the auction.
After the end of the IPL, Sakariya’s routine has been dominated by trips to the hospital where his father, a diabetic, is being treated.
Sakariya had lost his brother earlier in the year when he was playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
The young bowler finished the IPL season with 7 wickets to his name and said he never expected to have the kind of role that was eventually given to him. “Sanju bhai (Sanju Samson) came and told me that the management is seeing a high potential in me, so be ready, you will be playing. I couldn’t sleep that night, thoughts kept popping on how I would bowl, how I will get my wicket, aisa daloon, ke waise daloon (what kind of delivery should I bowl),” he recalls.
He remembers the moments after the game against the Mumbai Indians rather fondly as he rushed to take an autograph of Rohit Sharma. The Mumbai captain lauded him and said he is on a right track.
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