IPL 2023 - 5 Indian Cricketers Who Went From Rags To Riches

IPL 2023 – 5 Indian Cricketers Who Went From Rags To Riches: The IPL is not only a breeding ground for youngsters, it offers a great deal of financial stability and security to players, especially those who had been in desperate need of it. One of the biggest blessings of the IPL is the incredible stories that come out of almost after every auction, where some of the unknown players find themselves in the limelight of the fans.

The stories of players coming from a middle-class, lower middle-class, and some from even poverty works as an inspiration to not just cricketers but to fans and people in general.

The IPL auction has changed lives of numerous players, many of them went from having trouble making a decent living to being multi-millionaires.

Here are 5 Indian cricketers who went from rags to riches through the IPL:

Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja‘s father Anirudh worked as a watchman in Jamnagar, and at times couldn’t put two meals in a day to feed his family that included a young Ravindra Jadeja, his mother Lata and a sister Naina. Jadeja’s mother passed away in 2005 when he was still a teenager.

Through cricket, first in the IPL and then breaking into the national team, Ravindra Jadeja uplifted his family. In 2008, for RR, his salary was 12 lakh, and now, in 2023, drawing 16 crore per season from CSK, Jadeja is amongst the highest-earning cricketers. He was also recently placed in the Grade A+ category of the BCCI annual contract, fetching INR 7 crore per annum.

T Natarajan

Born in Chinnappampatti, a village near Salem district in Tamil Nadu, T Natarajan had a dreamy story in 2020/21, when he went from becoming the best yorker bowler in the IPL to getting India call-up for Australia tour; making debuts in Australia in all three formats and capping the tour off with a spectacular, unforgettable Gabba win.

Not too long ago before being picked up by Punjab in 2017 IPL for 3 crore, Natarajan was struggling in life, living in a small one storey house with his big family. His father was a weaver working on a powerloom, and his mother ran a fast-food stall to feed their 5 children.

In the IPL 2023, Natarajan is with SRH for a salary for 4 crore.

Umesh Yadav

He was snapped up in the 2009 auction by Delhi for 12 lakh. He made his India ODI debut in 2010 and by 2012 was an all-format bowler for India. DD rebought Umesh for 3.4 crore in 2011 auction. Overall, he’s made over 38 crore in the IPL salaries alone.

Mohammed Siraj

Mohammed Siraj‘s rise from rags to riches has been well-documented because his success came in the era of the internet boom in India.

Born in 1994 in Hyderabad, Siraj saw unfortunate financial difficulties in his family’s life: his father, who passed away in 2020 when Siraj was in Australia, an Auto-rickshaw driver and his mother used to clean others’ houses as a maid.

Siraj made his first-class debut in 2017, and was bought by SRH in 2017 auction for 2.6 crore – a life-changing amount for the Siraj family- before he made his T20I debut that year. Then RCB bought him in 2018 for the same amount, and in 2022, RCB retained Siraj for 7 crore.

Avinash Singh

Hailing from Jammu&Kashmir, Avinash Singh is a young fast bowler who was bought for 60 lakh by RCB in the IPL 2023 auction. The past 12 months have been left-changing in the life of Avinash, whose father was a rickshaw driver. Avinash’s father had to borrow money from relatives to put in his study, but the young fast bowler wanted to be a cricketer.

When his name appeared towards the end of the auction, and he finally made it to a team, Avinash and his father were left in tears.