Who is Saurav Chauhan, the RCB batter who made his IPL debut against RR

The ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) witnessed another youngster make his debut on Saturday with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) handing batting all-rounder Saurav Chauhan his maiden cap during their away match against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.

The 17th season of the world’s biggest T20 league has witnessed uncapped Indian cricketers outshine some of their more celebrated teammates more often than not, from Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mayank Yadav making heads turn with his express pace and superb control to Punjab Kings all-rounder Shashank Singh smashing an unbeaten 61 to power his team to a dramatic victory over Gujarat Titans.

Others such as Kolkata Knight Riders seamer Harshit Rana and Chennai Super Kings batter Sameer Rizvi have also had their moments during the season.

All eyes were on Chauhan, who replaced Anuj Rawat in the RCB XI, after he walked out to bat after the visitors lost the wickets of skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell in quick succession, the former departing for 44 that brought to an end a solid 125-run opening stand with Virat Kohli.

Sending good vibes to Saurav Chauhan as he gears up for his first match in the Red, Blue and Gold! 👊

Smash ‘em all around, lad! 🌟🏏#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2024 #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/oegbV4FBmW

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 6, 2024

Chauhan got off the mark right away with a single off RR’s South African pacer Nandre Burger in his first delivery and would collect two more before announcing himself by smashing Ravichandran Ashwin for a six, rocking back and pulling a short delivery from the senior off-spinner over cow corner.

Chauhan wouldn’t last long though, hitting the ball straight to Yashavi Jaiswal at extra cover off Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling right after smashing Ashwin for a six to depart for 9. The maximum, however, will have injected some confidence into the 23-year-old and could inspire him to make an even bigger impact later in the season.

There was a fair bit of buzz surrounding Chauhan’s inclusion for Saturday’s match and RCB skipper Faf du Plessis hyping him up during the toss.

“Not many people know him (Saurav Chauhan), he has some serious amount of skill and batting power, looks like a nice and calm guy,” du Plessis said during the toss.

So who exactly is Saurav Chauhan? We take a look at his cricketing journey so far:

Who is Saurav Chauhan?

Saurav Dilipsingh Chauhan, son of Ahmedabad-based curator Dilip Chauhan, was born on 27 May, 2000 and would go on to make his domestic debut for Gujarat at the age of 21 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on 4 November, 2021, smashing an unbeaten 50 off 40 balls and stitching a match-winning 113-run opening stand with Priyank Panchal.

His List A debut in the following month wasn’t as memorable though as he was dismissed for 1 during the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh in Mumbai. Two months later, he’d make his first appearance in whites against Kerala in the second round of matches in the Ranji Trophy.

Chauhan has since made six First-Class, 13 List A and 20 T20 appearances, including Saturday’s RR-RCB match in the IPL. He had also made headlines during Gujarat’s opening game of the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy by smashing a 13-ball half-century against Arunachal Pradesh, which was the fastest of the tournament until Railways all-rounder Ashutosh Sharma, who was later acquired by Punjab Kings, bettered his feat by a delivery.

Chauhan would go on to score 61 off just 18 deliveries as Gujarat chased down the 127-run target set by Arunachal in just 7.4 overs. It proved to be a timely knock from him, coming two months before he was picked up by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh in the player auction in Dubai.