Former UAE leg-spinner Karthik Meiyappan, bought by Siechem Madurai Panthers for ₹9.2 lakh in the 2025 TNPL auction, gained prominence when he became the first UAE bowler to ever pick up a hat-trick in the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Born in Tiruchi, he moved to the UAE at a very early age, became a cricketer, and went on to play for the UAE. He shifted base to Chennai last February after the Jolly Rovers CC (TNCA I div league) coach J. Hariesh asked him to come down for the Sanmar Group-owned teams (Rovers and Alwarpet CC) to have a look at him. Alwarpet eventually signed him. But that audition led to another unexpected opportunity.
“I was in contact with Hariesh. They called me down for one of the practice games. And then, obviously, because he was in the management (Asst. batting coach) for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) then, he just offered me a stint with SRH as a net bowler. So, I travelled with them and then I was there for the whole IPL season,” he said over a phone interview on Saturday.
But he insists that the primary reason he moved to Chennai, was to play in the TNPL.
“TNPL was the major thing I was looking at, actually. In UAE, we’ve never played red-ball cricket. Red-ball cricket has not been a thing in the UAE. It’s just been white-ball stuff for us. So, obviously, in terms of first division (TNCA league), it (bowling with the red ball) was a challenge I was looking forward to when I made the transition. But mainly, I made the move for TNPL,” he said.
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The 24-year-old, who bowls the googly, slider, and topspinner as variations, was optimistic that his SRH stint and TNCA league experience would benefit him in the TNPL.
“Playing in the TNCA league gives you a good picture about the batters you’re going to be up against. Because most of the players (in TNPL) are from the first division. You know who you’re going to be up against, which gives you a fair idea. It’s not like you’re completely new to the situation.
“The SRH and the TNCA league experiences put you in good stead. It will obviously come in handy,” he said.
Karthik has also had net-bowling stints with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) when IPL matches were held in the UAE in 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, he has experience of playing in the ILT20 and the Global T20 Canada.
Comparing the IPL with these global T20 leagues he’s played in, he said: “In IPL, the grounds are not that big. And the wickets are pretty batting-friendly as well. So, it’s challenging for the bowlers.
“If you think about ILT20, bowlers have their phases, where they have the conditions in favour of them. The dimensions of the grounds are much bigger, so you can play with that. But then, obviously, IPL is more challenging that way, as far as I’ve seen.”
