Prayas Ray Barman becomes youngest debutant in IPL history
Prayas Ray Barman on Sunday became the youngest debutant in Indian T20 League history.
Prayas Ray Barman on Sunday became the youngest debutant in Indian T20 League history when he was named in Bangalore‘s playing XI to take on Hyderabad.
At 16 years 157 days, he now holds the record for the the youngest to have played an IPL match. Afghanistan leggie Mujeeb-ur-Raham held the previous record when he made his debut aged 17 years and 11 days.
Prayas, who is a spinner plays his domestic cricket for Bengal and bowls legbreak. He is often likened to spin bowling legend Anil Kumble for his tall frame and tendency to bowl quick.
He made his first-class and List A debut in 2018 and went on to make his T20 debut earlier this year in February in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
In his maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy season, he was the leading wicket-taker from his side and in nine List A matches so far, he has 11 wickets at 23.00. However, he failed to make the cut in Bengal’s Ranji side but picked four wickets in as many T20s in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.
At the IPL auction in December, he was bought by Virat Kohli’s Bangalore for a cool INR 1.5 crore – 7.5 times over his base price.
Barman once harboured dream of clicking a photo with his role model Kohli but is now all set to take the field alongside the India captain.
“Like any other youngster in India, Virat is our role model. I always had a dream to click a photo with Kohli. I’ve tried a lot but did not get any opportunity. Now that I would be sharing the dressing room with my hero is just unbelievable,” Prayas was quoted as saying by PTI after the auction in December.
He added, “Sharing the dressing room, practising, interacting with the likes of Kohli, AB de Villiers on a day to day basis… It will be a big learning curve for me. I was not that tall. It was only a couple of years ago, I’ve grown taller as many people here started telling me that I bowl ‘Kumblesque’.”