Karn Sharma

Hailing from Meerut, Karn Sharma is a prolific leg-spinner who plays professional cricket for the Railways team. The veteran spinner first appeared at the domestic scene in 2007 and his major breakthrough came in the 2012/13 season when he pocketed 21 wickets in three matches in the Ranji Trophy for which he won the Best Under-25 cricketer award.

Karn made the headlines when he was auctioned for a whopping INR 3.75 crores by SRH in the Indian Premier League 2014 auction. It was the second-highest amount for any domestic player. The Meerut-born leggie was picked for India’s tour of England following another impressive season with SRH and made his debut against Sri Lanka in November 2014. Since his debut, he has failed to make the same impact and has always been at the fringes of selection. 

With 15 wickets in the 2014 season, Karn started playing a vital role in the team’s spin bowling options. Karn was bought by Mumbai Indians in the 2017 edition of the league and they tried hard to bring him back, but CSK outbid them and landed the star spinner for INR 5 Cr. Having last featured for CSK in the 2020 edition of the IPL, it is highly unlikely that he will break into the star-studded CSK lineup this year.

A handy lower-order batsman, Karn also earned a Test cap at Adelaide Oval in 2014-15, but he turned out to be a failure. For a player who has been highly inconsistent in the IPL, he has three titles to his name and his old-fashioned leg-spin has troubled some of the best batsmen in the World.

(As of June 2021)