Watch: KKR’s newly-recruited quick Vaibhav Arora is yet to break into their playing XI, but a resurfaced video, capturing his brilliance with the ball in hand, gives ample evidence of what the side might be missing out on.
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Playing in his debut first-class season for Himachal Pradesh in the 2019/20 Ranji Trophy, Arora topped the wicket charts for the state, capturing 29 wickets at 18.58. In white-ball formats, too, he’s managed strong starts, picking up eight wickets at 24.62 in List A cricket, and 10 scalps at 16.80 in T20s.
While his white-ball career might still be in its nascent stages, Arora has already grabbed eyeballs – just three days after he was acquired by KKR in the IPL 2021 auction, he captured a hat-trick on his List A debut for Himachal Pradesh in February.
There’s stiff competition to break into KKR’s bowling attack though; in Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi, their existing line-up is strong enough already.
However, a quick look at clips of him bowling in domestic cricket would make you wonder why he hasn’t been tried out already. Armed with a devastating in-swinger, Vaibhav manages to attain exceptional movement in the air and deviation off the surface, using the width of the crease well to create the extra angle into right-handers.
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If his Instagram profile is anything to go by, he also possesses the ability to use the long handle, and can contribute with handy runs down the order. Quite the package.
While IPL might be a whole different cup of tea, Arora’s talent is waiting to be appreciated by a bigger audience.
Watch a compilation of his jaw-dropping dismissals here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFcbBSskVTE&ab_channel=Crictube
