“I hope they do”: Karthik Meiyappan hopes to be picked by CSK during IPL 2023 auction

Karthik Meiyappan hopes to be picked by CSK post becoming the first player in this year’s T20 World Cup to pick a hat-trick.

During the sixth group stage match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022 between UAE and Sri Lanka, the UAE right-arm leg spinner Karthik Meiyappan became only the fifth man in T20 World Cup history to pick up a hat-trick, at the Simonds Stadium, in Geelong on Tuesday.

Coming in to bowl during the 15th Over and his third of the permissible quota, Meiyappan’s hat-trick was instrumental in restricting the Sri Lankan total to a modest 152/8, with the scorecard reading 114/2 before he began the Over.

The 22-year-old spinner got rid of the big fishes in the Asia Cup ‘Player of the Final’ Bhanuka Rajapaksa (5 off 8), left-handed Charith Asalanka (0), and finally the Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka (0) with a beautiful wrong-un breaching through his defence.

However, the accomplishment must have tasted much sweeter, had UAE, as exclaimed by Meiyappan later, managed to beat Sri Lanka, which was not to be as his batters bundled down on a paltry 73 in 17.1 Overs.

Karthik Meiyappan hopes to be picked by CSK

With the tentative date for the conduction of the mini-auction ahead of IPL 2023 already in, Karthik Meiyappan hopes to be picked by the four-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise yet again, although in the capacity of a player in their squad this time around.

“That is something I don’t know about. But I hope they do,” remarked the 22-year-old post the match after being questioned on the probability of being picked by CSK.

It is worth of a mention that Meiyappan had been with CSK as a net bowler during the second phase of IPL 2021, which was conducted in UAE. He even had cherished the precious moments spent with CSK skipper MS Dhoni post the training session, the video of which was posted by him across his social media handles as well.

Earlier, during IPL 2020, Meiyappan had also been a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) training camp alongside his skipper Ahmed Raza.

Interestingly, the leg-spinner was born in Chennai in the year 2000, but moved to UAE in 2007 along with his father who began working in the Middle-East country.