There was a lot of pressure on a young Vaibhav Arora on Sunday night when the 24-year-old pacer stepped on the field for his Indian Premier League debut. After all, the Punjab pacer, who plies his trade for Himachal in domestic cricket, had his first opportunity to justify his Rs 2 crore price tag against defending champions Chennai Super Kings.
The fast bowler, who couldn’t have asked for more seam-friendly conditions at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, made the most of it with a fiery spell of 2/21 that saw CSK being reduced to 23/4 inside the powerplay while chasing a challenging total of 181. Arora claimed the big wickets of Robin Uthappa (13) and Moeen Ali (0) in his opening two overs as CSK never recovered from the top-order collapse to put a dismal 126 all out on the board.
Vaibhav Arora celebrates with Punjab Kings teammates after taking a wicket during match 11 of the IPL 2022 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. Sportzpics for IPL
“Yeah there was pressure of it being a debut match for me but I had belief in myself, that I’ve done this before in the domestic circuit and practice matches,” Arora said at the post-match press conference. “Wherever we’ve played, I’ve always bowled well with the new ball, swung it both ways. So there was confidence. I reaped the result of that confidence,” Arora said in the post-match press conference.
His confidence probably also oozes from the fact that he found familiarity in the PBKS dressing room in college mate Arshdeep Singh, who also took the field alongside him on the night. Arshdeep, who shared the new ball with Arora for Sri Guru Gobind Singh College in Chandigarh up until 2017, too had his say in the game as he removed CSK skipper Ravindra Jadeja for a duck.
While Arora basks in the glory of his early success, it only masks the initial career struggles of the Ambala-born cricketer, who came close to quitting the game twice over financial constraints and a road accident that involved his pal Arshdeep as well.
“There was a fast bowling camp at PCA in 2017, and they had an unfortunate accident right at the gate of the IS Bindra Cricket Stadium. Both had suffered injuries in the elbows and knees,” said Ravi Verma, Vaibhav Arora’s coach, during a conversation with Indian Express.
While Arshdeep went on to recover soon from the mishap and went on to play India U-19 before landing himself a spot in IPL 2018 with PBKS, Arora’s career moved exactly in the opposite direction. During the period, the lanky pacer didn’t just struggle to keep his spot in the Punjab U19 team but made up his mind to quit the game to bail out his family from financial trouble.
Coach Verma soon came to his aid by convincing him and his parents to let the promising youngster to continue pursuing the game while offering financial assistance as well. Verma then also persuaded his disciple to look for a greener pasture in Himachal. Following the switch of the team, he went on to make an impressive Ranji debut in 2019 that included a match haul of 9/105 against Saurashtra and a prized scalp of India’s Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck.
His consistency soon attracted IPL franchises’ attention as Kolkata Knight Riders roped him for the last season after the trials. However, he had to wait for his turn for another year and until Sunday night with PBKS, who went big on the local lad at the mega auction in February.
While doubters may say one performance isn’t enough to justify the cash splurge, Arora’s domestic stats show a lot of potential. In a short but effective Ranji career so far, he has picked 30 wickets at at an average of 20.76 and a strike rate of 40.8. He has adapted well to the white ball as well with 14 wickets in 13 T20 games at an economy of 6.82 while possessing a strike rate of 20.2.
Talking of his skillset, Arora is someone who can swing the ball both ways. He has made a brilliant start to his IPL career and definitely one to watch out for as the tournament progresses.