There are cricketers whose paths to the IPL are straightforward.
And then there is Manimaran Siddharth, a boy born in Chennai who spent nine years of his childhood in Indonesia, wanted to become the next Irfan Pathan, was told he was not fast enough, switched to spin, was sold to three IPL franchises without ever getting a game in two of them, spent two seasons as a net bowler, and then walked onto the field at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in his second IPL match and dismissed Virat Kohli.
That sentence alone tells you everything about who Manimaran Siddharth is and why his story deserves to be told in full.
Manimaran Siddharth Age and Early Life
Manimaran Siddharth was born on July 3, 1998, and as of 2026 is 28 years old. His is one of the most unusual origin stories in Indian domestic cricket. A month after being born in Chennai, he moved to Indonesia because his father was working there. He spent the first nine years of his life in Indonesia. His father used to play for the Indonesian team and played in the Hong Kong Super Sixes.
That is how he developed an interest in cricket. Think about that for a moment. A Tamil Nadu cricketer who has gone on to represent the state, win a national title, and dismiss Virat Kohli, developed his earliest love for cricket while growing up in Jakarta.
When Siddharth decided to become a professional cricketer, his family moved back to Chennai to give him access to the best facilities. That kind of sacrifice from a family is rarely acknowledged loudly enough.
Manimaran Siddharth Father Name
His dad Manimaran also played a bit of club cricket and even played in the Hong Kong Super Sixes tournament. The father’s name and the son’s name are the same, which is a tradition in parts of Tamil Nadu and reflects the deep bond between parent and child. When Siddharth started playing, he could not bowl properly because he could not bowl with a straight arm.
Then his brother Bharat helped him to bowl with a straight arm. So he is thankful to his family for all their support. Father, brother, family, all aligned behind one dream that began on a cricket pitch in Indonesia.
Irfan Pathan Dream That Changed Shape
Every cricketer has a hero. Siddharth’s dream was to become the next Irfan Pathan, but his coaches felt he did not have enough pace to become a left-arm quick. He was asked to switch to left-arm spin, but his ability to swing the ball remained. That detail is the key to understanding what makes Siddharth unusual as a bowler. He is not a conventional left-arm orthodox spinner.
He is an Imad Wasim-style bowler who swings his arm ball, using his index finger with the seam upright and canted towards fine leg to swing the ball into right-handers.
His arm ball at speeds of over 110 kph mixed with occasional flighted deliveries gives him a rare dual threat that most left-arm spinners simply do not have.
The boy who wanted to swing the ball like Pathan found a way to swing the ball as a spinner. He found a way anyway.
Manimaran Siddharth Stats: The Domestic Record
Manimaran Siddharth made his T20 debut on November 22, 2019, for Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. His debut was magical. He claimed a four-wicket haul in his quota of four overs, taking the wickets of Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, and Suryakumar Yadav as Tamil Nadu won by nine wickets. Dismissing Shaw, Iyer, and Suryakumar in your T20 debut is not an ordinary beginning.
On January 31, 2021, he played a crucial role for Tamil Nadu against Baroda in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picking 4 wickets for 20 runs to help Tamil Nadu limit Baroda to 120 runs. Tamil Nadu won comfortably with 7 wickets to spare. Manimaran Siddharth won the Player of the Match award for that performance.
A national title, on the biggest domestic T20 stage, with the ball. He holds the Tamil Nadu state record for the most four-wicket hauls in T20 cricket. In first-class cricket, he has been a consistent performer with over 30 wickets, and his List A record is equally impressive with over 26 wickets.
The Two Years He Spent as a Net Bowler
This is the part of Siddharth’s story that separates him from cricketers who give up. Despite the setback of not getting a game with KKR in 2020 and being injured through the entire 2021 DC season, Siddharth persevered. He embraced the role of a net bowler, offering support to teams such as Mumbai Indians in 2022 and Chennai Super Kings in 2023. While serving as a net bowler for MI and CSK, two of the biggest franchises in the IPL, he was not bitter. He was learning.
In 2022 and 2023, when Siddharth was unsold at the auction, he went away and perfected his arm ball with AC Prathiban, the former Tamil Nadu and Puducherry offspinner who has also coached Varun Chakravarthy and Washington Sundar. The coach and the bowler worked meticulously on the arm ball on all kinds of surfaces, including astroturf pitches, so that the delivery could be deployed anywhere, in any conditions.
Manimaran Siddharth TNPL 2023
Siddharth became a super specialised new-ball swing bowler for Shahrukh Khan’s Lyca Kovai Kings in the 2023 TNPL. His economy rate of 5.61 in that tournament was the best among bowlers who had bowled at least 100 balls. His performances grabbed the attention of Sridharan Sriram, the former Tamil Nadu allrounder and current LSG assistant coach, who was doing commentary during the TNPL.
That one TNPL campaign, bowled in relative obscurity, watched by the right person on the right day, changed everything. LSG acquired him for Rs 2.40 crore ahead of the 2024 season.
Manimaran Siddharth IPL Career
Defending 181 against a star-studded RCB lineup featuring Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green at the Chinnaswamy Stadium could have proven daunting. Siddharth’s exceptional spell in the powerplay, giving away just 21 runs in three overs and producing the prized scalp of Kohli, silenced the partisan crowd. The moment was set up by LSG’s then-coach Justin Langer. Langer said he saw Siddharth bowl an arm ball and asked him, “Hey Sid, you reckon you can get Virat out for us?” and Siddharth responded with a vigorous nod and a big smile. He then went and did exactly that. It was his maiden wicket in the IPL and it was an unforgettable moment.
He tricked Virat Kohli by bowling a fuller delivery on the off-stump before the batter got a leading edge and Devdutt Padikkal took a catch at backward point. After the match, Kohli’s wicket led him to meeting his childhood hero Irfan Pathan in Bengaluru.
Pathan asked him how he started his cricket career, wished him luck, and noted that they even had the same hairstyle. The boy from Jakarta who wanted to be Irfan Pathan got to sit with Irfan Pathan after dismissing Virat Kohli. Cricket wrote that ending, not a screenplay writer.
He was re-acquired by LSG for Rs 75 lakh ahead of IPL 2025 and has been retained for IPL 2026. In IPL 2026, he has taken four wickets so far and has been fairly economical, maintaining good control without conceding easy runs, serving as a spin resource through the middle overs for LSG.
Why Manimaran Siddharth
Indonesia to Chennai. Pacer to spinner. KKR to DC to net bowler to LSG. Unsold twice. A Tamil Nadu title. A record for four-wicket hauls. Two years of net bowling. One arm ball. Virat Kohli’s wicket. Irfan Pathan’s handshake. At 28 and in his third IPL season, Manimaran Siddharth is still writing his story. But the chapters already written are proof that in cricket, as in most things, the ones who keep showing up are the ones who eventually get to matter.
Lucky Raina is a complete cricket writer chasing corporate dreams by day and cricket stories by night. Once a promising Under 16 cricketer, life took him down a different pitch but the love for the game never left.
