RCB have given a debut to 23-year-old Saurabh Chauhan, a wicketkeeper-batter from Gujarat. Here is all you need to know about him.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru were put into bat by Rajasthan Royals in what is being called the “Pink Promise” match, dedicated to women-led transformations in the state of Rajasthan. They named debutant Saurabh Chauhan in the XI, in place of Anuj Rawat.
Who is Saurabh Chauhan?
Chauhan is a 23-year-old left-handed wicketkeeper-batter who plays for Gujarat in domestic cricket. He was picked in the IPL 2024 auction by RCB for INR 20 lakh after having gone unsold in the previous two auctions.
Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and have opted to field against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.#RRvsRCB #IPL2024 #SanjuSamson #FafduPlessis #Cricket pic.twitter.com/nabTCypyoO
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) April 6, 2024
Chauhan made his T20 debut in the 2021-22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and has played 19 matches since. He averages 29 with the bat and has a career strike rate of 152 in the shortest format, with four half-centuries to his name.
He also has the fastest T20 fifty in Indian domestic cricket to his name, having scored one in 13 deliveries against Arunachal Pradesh in the SMAT last year.
The left-hander from Gujarat also has an impressive List A record, having scored two hundreds and two fifties in 13 games with an average of 43.27 and a strike rate of 116.95. He is yet to set the stage on fire in first-class cricket, however, averaging 25 from six games.
The son of a groundsman
Chauhan comes from a humble background. His father, Dilip Chauhan was a groundsman at the Saurabh Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad for nearly two decades. Their family used to live in the stadium premises, which is where Saurabh started his cricket journey.
While speaking to Times of India after he got picked in the IPL 2024 auction by RCB, Chauhan revealed that he had attended the selection camp for Delhi Capitals as well, but it was RCB who eventually bid for him at the auction.
Chauhan’s father outlined his resolve to improve himself after every rejection. “In the past two IPL auctions, Saurabh had remained unsold. Every time he came to know that he was not selected in the auction, he would just switch off the television and go to the ground and start practicing. He will not get demoralised or dejected, but at every rejection, he would try to improve himself as a cricketer,” his father told Times of India.
