KC Cariappa: Get to know KKR's young mystery spinner

KC Cariappa at a KPL presentation ceremony

In the 2015 IPL auctions that were held in Bengaluru earlier today, spinner Kishan Cariappa (known as KC Cariappa) was bought for a whopping Rs. 2.4 crore by the Kolkata Knight Riders. The amount spent on a largely unknown bowler came as a huge surprise to the cricketing community who were following the auction closely.

Cariappa is yet to feature for his state Karnataka at the senior level in any format of the game.

The 20-year-old was himself taken aback by the amount that KKR ended up spending on purchasing him. Speaking in an interview to Live Mint, Cariappa said: “To be honest, I was expecting the base price (of Rs.10 lakh).”

Cariappa – India’s new mystery spinner?

Cariappa, who has made his name as a mystery spinner in Bengaluru’s local cricketing scene, also spoke about his bowling, stating that he is predominantly a leg-spinner who has a lot of variations to his game.

“I began by playing tennis ball cricket. Leather ball cricket happened by chance, and once I started bowling with the leather ball, the people around me encouraged me to bowl. My stock delivery is the leg spinner and I bowl the carrom ball and I am working harder on my off-spin,” he said.

Cariappa plays for the Socials Cricket Club in Bengaluru’s top division in club cricket. He was selected in Karnataka’s list of probables for the Ranji Trophy this season after impressing the state selectors by picking up 11 wickets at an average of 12 in the Karnataka Premier League for the Bijapur Bulls.

Clean action to boot

A few mystery spinners, including KKR’s own Sunil Narine, have been questioned over their bowling actions in recent times. But Cariappa is adamant that there is nothing wrong with his bowling action.

“My action has been the same since I started playing tennis ball cricket,” Cariappa further added.

Speaking about Cariappa, KKR CEO Venky Mysore said they had discovered him when he bowled to their batsmen in the nets during the Champions League T20 last year. According to Live Mint, the Kolkata-based franchise had sent a scout named Srikanth to track Cariappa’s progress in local Bengaluru tournaments.