Prashant Veer

Hailing from Gujipur village near Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Veer’s cricketing ambitions were forged in an environment without safety nets. The family’s financial stability collapsed in 2020 following the loss of his grandfather, whose pension was their only steady income. With his father’s modest salary as a schoolteacher barely covering household expenses, cricket equipment became an unaffordable luxury. During these lean years, Veer’s talent was sustained by the goodwill of his childhood coach, Rajiv Goel, who covered local expenses while friends shared their kits.

This period of uncertainty built a discipline where every training session was treated as a high-stakes professional requirement rather than a hobby. Veer left the Mainpuri Sports Hostel to move to Saharanpur for specialized training under coach Rajiv Goel.

After a brief period of doubt where he enrolled in a college in Chandigarh to seek an easier pathway, Veer returned to Uttar Pradesh and forced his way into the Under-19 side through sheer weight of runs. He soon established himself as the state's leading scorer in the 2022-23 Cooch Behar Trophy, marking his arrival as a serious multi-format prospect.

The 2025 season turned Veer into a household name across the state. Captaining the Noida Super Kings in the UP T20 League, he earned the nickname "Miller" for his ability to clear boundary ropes with ease, finishing the season with 320 runs at a strike rate of 155.34 and claiming eight wickets at an economy rate under seven.

He carried this form into the senior state team for the 2025 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 112 runs at a blistering strike rate of 169.69 and claiming nine wickets at an average of 18.77. His dominance reached a peak in the Men's U-23 State A Trophy 2025-26, where he was named Player of the Tournament after amassing 376 runs at a staggering average of 94.00 and taking 18 wickets in just seven matches.

Veer's rapid rise and his left-arm spin, combined with middle-order power-hitting, earned him the "Next Jadeja" tag among scouts. This reputation culminated in the December 2025, IPL mini-auction in Abu Dhabi, where the Chennai Super Kings secured his services for a joint-record INR 14.20 crore, which was a meteoric rise. In an emotional aftermath, his first call was to Rakshit Garg, the friend who had shared those early cycles and dreams.

The early months of 2026 brought a significant hurdle when Veer suffered a Grade-2 shoulder tear while fielding in a Ranji Trophy fixture against Jharkhand in late January. The injury sidelined him for several weeks, but he successfully completed his rehabilitation to join the Chennai Super Kings’ pre-season training camp at the Navalur high-performance center.