'IPL high price won't add to my stress'

Until he was 24, Varun Chakravarthy was making a living as an architect.
Three years later, an IPL team paid Rs 84 million for his spinning skills!

Varun Chakravarathy was bought by the Kings XI Punjab for a whooping Rs 84 million (Rs 8.4 crore) at the IPL auction last month.

"The high price will not add to my stress, but to my responsibility," the 27-year-old spinner from Chennai tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar.

He has just returned from an all day practice session at the Chepauk stadium. He had been practising batting and bowling all by himself.

Varun started playing cricket at the beginning of his teens in school. At that time he was a wicket-keeper batsman.

After school he lost touch with cricket.

He finished his HSC and started studying architecture.

Five years later, armed with a degree, he got a job and worked for two years.

Seven years, he went without any contact with cricket.

At 24 he thought that he had not given his best to cricket and decided to go back to the game.

The Reserve Bank of India was asking for players. He attended their trials and was selected to play for them.

He played for two years before joining the Magnet Club.

He was no longer a wicket-keeper batsman, but now a medium pacer.

A knee injury made him switch to spin as he did not want to put too much pressure on his knee.

The rest as the cliche goes is history.

Varun played in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and for Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

He took 9 wickets in the TNPL and 22 wickets in the Vijay Hazare tournament.

He was selected for the Tamil Nadu 50 overs team and the Ranji Trophy side.

His preparation for the IPL, he says, is "Practice and more practice".

He is also watching videos of IPL games to get a feel of what to expect when he begins turning his arm over for the Kings XI Punjab a few weeks from now.

He knows what he wants and also knows what he has to do to get what he wants. He does not reveal too much of his dreams or his mind, his work is there for all to see.