KOLKATA: Prayas Ray Burman, all of 16, had no idea that December 18, 2018, would pan out as it eventually did. Listed in the IPL players’ auction in Jaipur on Tuesday at a base price of Rs 20 lakh, the young leg-spinner was picked up by
Royal Challengers Bangalore
for Rs 1.5 crore.
To say that that it was a dream-come-true for a boy who had blown 16 candles only on October 25, would be an understatement. “I was following the auction on television. To be honest I never expected to be picked as so many big names went unsold,” he said.
He may be a leg-spinner, but Prayas idolises
Virat Kohli. “I used to even forget having my food while watching Virat bat,” he said. “It will thus be a dream-come-true for me to be able to share the dressing room with him,” he added.
He is fully aware, though, that the real challenge begins now. “Many players have lost their way after being roped in for huge amounts of money in the players’ auctions. My focus will be to try and live up to the standard of IPL cricket. I don’t want to get lost,” he stated.
Prayas shot into limelight with a great show for Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over) meet in Chennai earlier this season. He announced his arrival on the big stage in his very first match for the senior Bengal team when he finished with figures of 5-0-20-4 against Jammu and Kashmir to fashion a six-wicket win.
He ended up picking 11 wickets at an average of 23 and an economy of 4.45 in the tournament. More importantly, he forced his way into the
Ranji Trophy squad. He is, however, yet to make his Ranji or T20 (Syed Mushtaq Ali) debut.
The boy from Durgapur had earlier played a big role in the Bengal U-23 side finishing runners-up (to Punjab) last season and also represented India Yellow in the U-19 Challenger meet last month.