The first thing I will do is repay my father’s loan of Rs 26 lakh: CSK’s Kartik Sharma

Rajasthan explosive keeper-batter Kartik Sharma, who was roped in by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise for a whopping INR 14.2 Crore, has revealed that he would use the money to pay off his father’s loans as soon as possible.

Speaking to Jatin Sapru, the dashing batter has disclosed that his immediate goal is to clear his father’s loans of INR 26 Lakh. Notably, CSK, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were involved in a bidding war for the keeper-batter in the IPL 2026 mini-auction.

“The first thing I will do is repay my father’s loan of Rs 26 lakh,” Kartik told Jatin Sapru.

For the unversed, Kartik emerged as the joint-most expensive uncapped player in IPL auction history alongside Prashant Veer, who was also roped in by CSK. Speaking on his bidding, the keeper-batter stated that he couldn’t control his emotions after seeing his final price.

“I was so happy that I ended up crying. When my bidding started, I was scared, thinking maybe I won’t get picked today. But as soon as the bidding began, it just kept going on and on. At that moment, I couldn’t hold back my tears. Even after the bidding ended, I kept crying. Everyone was dancing, and I was crying. I was that happy,” he added.

Kartik emerged as Rajasthan’s leading run-scorer in the most recent Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 campaign, scoring 445 runs from eight matches at an impressive strike rate of 118.03. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Kartik has accumulated 334 runs across 11 innings over two seasons, striking at a brisk rate of 162.92. 

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) full squad for IPL 2026

MS Dhoni, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Jamie Overton*, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis*, Noor Ahmad*, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Gopal, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis*, Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Rahul Chahar, Matt Henry*, Akeal Hosein*, Matthew Short*, Zak Foulkes*, Sarfaraz. Khan, Aman Khan.

*denote overseas player.

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