IPL 2018 | Was surprised at not being picked in IPL auctions, reveals Varun Aaron

IPL 2018 | Was surprised at not being picked in IPL auctions, reveals Varun Aaron

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Varun Aaron has revealed that more than being disappointed at not being picked up in any of the Indian Premier League franchises, he was surprised at his non-inclusion. The auctions for the upcoming season of the lucrative cricket league is scheduled to be held at Jaipur tomorrow.

After making his International cricket debut in the year 2011, Varun Aaron has struggled to find a place in the Indian squad as the fight for the fast bowling spot in the Indian team has really heated up in last few months. Another issue for him has been the disinterest of Indian Premier League(IPL) franchises to pick him in their squad at the auctions. For this year’s IPL the pacer could not find even a single IPL team bidding for him at the auctions. With the auctions for the next IPL season scheduled for tomorrow in Jaipur, he would be desperately hoping to find a new home.

“To be honest with you, not finding an IPL team was more about surprise than a disappointment. But we all must move ahead and I decided to go and play county cricket. I will say I was surprised because I had a good season with Kings XI Punjab in 2017. Just before the auction, I had a game against Punjab — live on television — and the ball was coming out really well, including the knuckle-ball and I was a bit surprised with the turn of events. At the same time, I had the option of either sitting and brooding or playing county cricket. So, the move wasn’t hard mentally,” Aaron told HT.

Aaron has been playing for Jharkhand in the domestic cricket and has put in some really good performances over the years for his team. For example, he picked 18 wickets in eight games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy before picking two wickets in one Deodhar Trophy match. Even in Ranji Trophy, he did well scalping 18 batsmen in four matches. He is currently looking as one of the best options for any franchise as far as an in-form domestic fast bowler for the upcoming IPL. 

“Not breaking into one of these teams in recent times has been tough because generally, when you see a bowler who has been part of the Indian team, he is an automatic choice in all these competitions. I was again very surprised that I haven’t been picked for any of these teams,” he revealed.

The pacer also revealed that since the IPL snub earlier this year, he has been working hard on many aspects of his bowling. He also credited Subrata Banerjee for being as a guide to him all along his rough journey. He also made it clear that no matter which team he plays for in the IPL, he would only play to win his team the match.

“Playing county cricket, working with Subrata Banerjee has made me evolve as a bowler. I had been working on my varieties over the last two seasons and playing in different conditions in county cricket made me want to resort to the varieties more and that has helped me. I am bowling a lot more variations now, have three slower balls, have a leg-cutter and off-cutter coming out well. Not to forget I still love to come in and hit the deck hard.

“I have been working on these and you could have seen these in the last IPL if I had played. But I definitely am looking forward to unleashing these in the upcoming edition of the IPL. Not really looking at which team I will play for, it is more about winning them matches,” he signed off.

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