India U19’s express pace bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti will be a part of IPL 2018, as he was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2018 auction for 3.20 crore.

Nagarkoti has become one of the highlights of the U19 World Cup, constantly bowling above 140 kmph. Even the greats like Ian Bishop and Sourav Ganguly praised the young Rajasthan bowler for his exploits in the U19 World Cup.

“Andar se thoda nervous tha mai (I was a little nervous from within). My friends kept calling non-stop, but I didn’t pick up the phone. I didn’t watch my bidding. When my room partner Pankaj Yadav turned on the live stream, I couldn’t take it. I said ‘yaar, main jaa raha hoon (I’m off). I went and sat inside the washroom even as my bidding kept going on,” Nagarkoti said in an interview in ESPNCricinfo.

“TV channels were home to interview them, so I couldn’t talk for long, but they were happy,” Nagarkoti says. “Later, someone tagged them being interviewed on Facebook. They were very happy. I’d only ever watched one IPL match at the stadium before this. To be playing now is a great feeling. I was watching Chris Lynn batting in the BBL on TV. Now I’ll get a chance to bowl to him in the nets. It’s quite unbelievable.”

“Main toh bas chahta hun vo aage bade aur senior team ke liye bhi khele,” the Kamlesh’s father Lachham Singh Nagarkoti had said to CricketNext.