Izaz Sawariya came into limelight after Adil Rashid commented on his Insta reels.
Sawariya is known for his viral Instagram reels showing him bowl leg spinners and has earned notable views. His audience has expanded to include scouts from the Chennai Super Kings and Sunil Joshi, the bowling coach for the Punjab Kings until recently. At the time of writing, he had 20.6k followers, an increase of 600 in just thirty minutes.
Sawariya finds himself in the IPL 2026 auction at no. 265, in the fourth and final set of uncapped spinners. It would be an amazing tale if a player who had never played representative cricket at any level cut based just on social media popularity. He hasn't played for any recognized league, state team, or age group.
"I come from an Air Force family. My father is posted in Gorakhpur with the 27th Squadron (Jaguar). Because of his postings, I grew up in Bidar, Karnataka. I joined Vijay Cricket Club in 2017. Initially, I was a fast bowler, but the coaches there asked me to focus on legspin,” Sawariya told ESPNCricinfo.
After three years of playing and being unable to break into the Under-15s, Sawariya decided to shift to Rajasthan, where his roots are, to further his cricket.
"I felt it would be very tough to break through there. So after Covid, in 2022, I moved to Jaipur. The first two years were very hard. I was part of the district setup, but I didn't get chances to play. Even last year, I wasn't given opportunities. That's when I started thinking differently,” he added.
That different path was Instagram.
"I thought of posting my reels. Honestly, when I started, I didn't think it would go this far. I just kept posting without thinking about the results. Every day after practice, I had some time. I would shoot a reel and post it. One reel after practice, almost daily. That became my routine.
Then Adil Rashid started commenting on my reels. That's when I felt I had truly achieved something. He commented on many of my reels. We haven't spoken properly, but we've exchanged messages on Instagram. He told me I was very good and complimented my bowling. That gave me a lot of confidence. After that, I started posting more, and the views really went up,” Sawariya explained his social media fame.
He revealed that the five-time IPL champions, Chennai Super Kings, contacted him, and the Punjab Kings also called him for trials.
"Chennai Super Kings contacted me. We spoke a couple of times. A scout called me. Sunil Joshi sir saw my reel and asked for my number, and then Punjab Kings called me for trials in Lucknow. I impressed them, they liked me, and after document verification, they filled my form for the IPL auction,” he said.
He is appreciative of his family's support throughout it all, particularly that of his father and older sister, who have helped him out financially throughout the years. His coach is also appreciated.
"Surendra Singh Rathore sir, has helped me a lot over the last three years—my technique, my legspin, and my variations. Because of him, my bowling has improved a lot,” he added.
Sawariya stated that he looks up to Ravi Bishnoi, and apart from Adil Rashid, he has a lot of admiration for MS Dhoni.
"I've supported CSK since childhood. I'm a big MS Dhoni fan. If I get a chance, I would love to go to CSK, but as a player, I want to perform well for any team,” he said.
"For my parents and my family, I just want to build a house with my own money. That's my biggest goal,” he signed off.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)