As the 23-year-old allrounder from Jammu & Kashmir watched, he saw Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders battle it out for his services. A base price of INR 20 lakh (USD 24,000 approx.) zoomed past a crore within no time. When the hammer finally went down a few minutes later, he’d been signed up for INR 2.6 crore (USD 317,000 approx.), a sum he certainly “did not expect”. All he had hoped for was to be picked. This was “unimaginable”.
Vivrant’s first move after that was to ring up his mother and elder brother Vikrant, who inspired him to become a cricketer. Vikrant aspired to be fast bowler and even represented his university, but stepped aside to manage the family’s chemical business following the death of their father Sushant Sharma in 2020.
“My cricket would have come to a halt but Vikrant ensured that it continued non-stop as he took over the family business and started living his dreams through me,” Vivrant told PTI. “It’s all because of my brother’s sacrifice. I would not have been here otherwise. I was not good at studies, but Vikrant ensured I continued to focus on cricket and kept making progress.”
In a chase of 148 on a sluggish surface in Chandigarh’s Mullanpur stadium, Vivrant found himself batting with the lower order as J&K sank to 31 for 6. Vivrant launched a fierce counterattack to make a 46-ball 63 with six fours and two sixes. J&K lost the game, but Vivrant had made a mark. With the ball, overall, he picked up six wickets at an economy of 4.80.
Given these numbers, he held on to hopes of an IPL deal, but “I never expected such an amount. I was just hoping someone would pick me.”