Ever since England legspinner Adil Rashid dropped a comment on a few of his reels earlier this year, Izaz Sawariya, 20, has made it a habit to wake up and check his Instagram notifications unfailingly.
Initially, his reels attracted a few hundred views. Now, they rack up tens of thousands of impressions "easily." The audience has grown to include the likes of Sunil Joshi, until recently the Punjab Kings bowling coach, as well as scouts from Chennai Super Kings. His follower count at the time of writing had grown by 600 in a matter of 30 minutes and stands at 20.6k.
On Tuesday, Sawariya could find himself coming up for bidding at the IPL 2026 auction in Abu Dhabi. His name is slotted at No. 265 in the fourth and final set of uncapped spinners. Even merely coming up for bidding would make for a remarkable story, of a player making the cut purely on the back of social-media traction, without having played representative cricket at any level.
Sawariya grew up in Bidar, a small town in North Karnataka. "I come from an Air Force family. My father is posted in Gorakhpur with the 27th Squadron (Jaguar)," he tells ESPNcricinfo. "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."
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," he says. "So after Covid, in 2022, I moved to Jaipur."
Sawariya stayed in a paying-guest accommodation and enrolled at the Sanskar Cricket Academy under Surendra Singh Rathore, who has previously coached India Under-19 World Cup winner Kamlesh Nagarkoti.
"The first two years were very hard," he admits. "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."
That different path was Instagram.
"I thought of posting my reels," he says. "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.
Initially, the response was modest. "Then Adil Rashid started commenting on my reels. That's when I felt I really I had something," he says. "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."
Soon, teams began to notice. "Chennai Super Kings contacted me. We spoke a couple of times. A scout called me," he says. "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."
Sawariya is aware of how unusual his journey has been and feels he's been able to become a trendsetter with his unique journey into cricket.
"I feel a lot of excitement because no one has gone like this before," he says. "I think I might be the first player to go from social media to the IPL auction. Now when I scroll Instagram, I see a lot of people trying to make reels like me. It feels good that I've started a trend."
Through it all, he's thankful for the support from family, especially his father and older sister who've supported him financially through these years. There's also gratitude to his coach.
"Surendra Singh Rathore sir has helped me a lot over the last three years - my technique, my legspin, my variations. Because of him, my bowling has improved a lot."
Sawariya looks upto Ravi Bishnoi, another local Rajasthan boy. Rashid aside, there's also the 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."
His days have followed a similar pattern lately. "In winters, practice starts at 8am; in summers, around 6 or 6.30am. We practice twice a day, with gym sessions in the evening. After dinner, the day is done."
And his dreams are fairly clear. "For my parents and my family, I just want to build a house with my own money," Sawariya says. "That's my biggest goal."