When Vaibhav Arora, a 24-year-old pacer, took the field for his Indian Premier League debut on Sunday night, he was under a lot of pressure. After all, against reigning champions Chennai Super Kings, the Punjab pacer, who plays for Himachal in domestic cricket, had his first chance to justify his Rs 2 million price tag. The fast bowler, who couldn’t have asked for more seam-friendly conditions at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, took advantage of them with a scorching session of 2/21 that reduced CSK to 23/4 inside the powerplay while chasing a difficult total of 181. In his first two overs, Arora got the key wickets of Robin Uthappa (13) and Moeen Ali (0), but CSK never recovered from the top-order collapse and were bowled out for 126 runs.
His self-assurance stems from the fact that he discovered a familiar face in the PBKS locker room in college buddy Arshdeep Singh, who was also on the pitch with him that night. Arshdeep, who shared the new ball with Arora at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College in Chandigarh till 2017, also had a voice in the game, dismissing CSK captain Ravindra Jadeja for a duck.
While Arora basks in the glory of his early success, it only serves to obscure the Ambala-born cricketer’s early career challenges, which included nearly quitting the game twice due to financial restrictions and a traffic accident in which his companion Arshdeep was also involved.
While Arshdeep recovered quickly from his mishap and went on to play for India U-19 before joining PBKS in the IPL 2018, Arora’s career took a very different path. During this time, the lanky bowler not only struggled to maintain his position in the Punjab U19 squad but also decided to retire from cricket to help his family out of financial difficulties.
His consistency drew the attention of IPL organisations, and after the trials, Kolkata Knight Riders signed him for the last season. He had to wait another year and till Sunday night with PBKS, who had bid heavily for the local youngster at the major auction in February.
