Prashant Veer, Uttar Pradesh’s left-arm spinning all-rounder, became the joint-highest paid uncapped player in the history of IPL when Chennai Super Kings secured his services for INR 14.20 Crore. His 20th birthday present came three weeks late, but he wouldn’t complain. It’s far from the life he was leading only five years ago, when the lack of financial means had threatened to hamstring his cricketing ambitions.
“In 2020, Prashant wanted to quit cricket,” Rajiv Goel, Prashant’s childhood coach, tells to Cricbuzz.
With his grandfather passing away that year, Prashant’s family had also lost the only source of income – his grandfather’s pension from Life Corporation of India – which had kept his cricketing ambitions alive. The salary of his father, a Siksha Mitra (loosely translated to a government school teacher’s assistant), was far from enough to manage the expenses of a family of five in Amethi.
Goel looked after his local expenses while a few generous souls ensured that Prashant got access to cricket kits, bat and shoes, to pursue his ambition of becoming a professional cricketer.
It wasn’t the first time in his cricketing journey that Prashant was on the verge of taking a hasty decision. Limited financial means meant that the sport could never be limited to merely a pass-time; it had to become a profession that could pay the bills. That limitation had, at several times, prompted him to search for a path that would hasten his foray to the higher levels.
One such move in 2019 led him to meet Goel. At the insistence of his roommate Rakshit Garg, who was fed up with the training facilities at the Mainpuri Sports Hostel, he left for Sahranpur.
For the uninitiated, admission to these state-run sports hostels in Uttar Pradesh is a highly-competitive affair with thousands trialling for it across the state, with only the top 25 getting through. Several prominent cricketers from Uttar Pradesh, including Suresh Raina, Mohammed Kaif, Karn Sharma, among others, are products of these government-run sports hostels and colleges. Moreover, the overall accommodation and cricketing expenses in these hostels are subsided to a fee of INR 2500 annually.
At the insistence of his roommate Rakshit Garg (right), who was fed up with the training facilities at the Mainpuri Sports Hostel, Prashant Veer left for Sahranpur. ©Cricbuzz
Prashant opted to forgo that luxury since his roommate, with whom he had spent barely six months, convinced him that his childhood coach ‘Tappu Sir’ in Saharanpur – Rajiv Goel – could offer better training, and with it, an opportunity to move higher up the ranks. Aware of Prashant’s financial constraints, Garg – son of a paan seller – offered to even let him stay in his house.
The two cycled their way to training every day, with Prashant taking the load while heading to training, and riding pillion while returning home. “We have grown up like brothers,” Garg proudly tells Cricbuzz.
While the daily routine continued, Garg, a right-handed opening batter, went on to find a place in Uttar Pradesh’s Under-16 team, but Prashant lost out in the last round. It shattered him, claims Goel. Prashant wondered if his talent was enough to keep the competition in India’s most populous state at bay, and in another moment of panic, he secured admission to a college in Chandigarh, hoping to qualify for the higher levels in a relatively less-competitive structure.
While his talent was evident from the outset to Goel, the coach acknowledges there wasn’t a lot to work with Prashant. “Two shots in particular remained his weakness – the cut and sweep – then. But there wasn’t a need to tamper with his natural ability. Now, he can play all these shots with ease.”
The constraints and challenges of the pursuit that Prashant lived in, imbibed in him the need to grind and remain disciplined. The result was evident soon. He didn’t need to fight for a place in Chandigarh as he had broken through Uttar Pradesh’s Under-19 team on the back of stellar performances with both bat and ball in his first season itself. He returned as the highest scorer for Uttar Pradesh in the Cooch Behar Trophy in 2022-23, and soon found a place in the senior team’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad that year. Consistent performances have helped him find a place across all formats in the senior team.
Nicknamed ‘Miller’ in Sahranpur from his ‘out of the park’ sixes, Prashant featured for Noida Kings in UP T20 League, and by the third season, even captained the side. He led the way scoring 320 runs at a strike rate of 155.34 and took 8 wickets at an economy of 6.69 in 10 games in the 2025 season.
He continued that form in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well, scoring at a strike rate of 169.69 and bowling at an economy rate of 6.76, becoming a vital cog for the side. He did all of that while shuffling duties between the senior team and the Under-23 side, playing six games in a span of seven days.
Touted as the next-Ravindra Jadeja in the UP circles, the early rewards for his hard work, talents and performances came through at the Abu Dhabi auction hall on Tuesday. Weirdly placed to now fill in those big shoes, he called up Garg from his training camp soon after CSK won the bid.
Fortune didn’t smile as pleasantly on Garg, his one-time teammate who shared the same ambition, and cycled through the same hope with Prashant. Garg lost both his parents over the last few years, and had to step aside from sport to take care of the financial responsibilities of the house. He went on to start a sports goods shop in Saharanpur.
But he is happy in the success of his ‘brother’, who he had offered a home away from home and pushed to better avenues that eventually paved the way for his sporting success. “Even before he called up his parents, he video called me to share his excitement today,” Garg says in delight. “I may not have my parents with me today, but he is my family, my brother.”
