IPL 2018: U19 star Kamlesh Nagarkoti excited and nervous to play in his first season of IPL

Kamlesh Nagarkoti's speed has made everyone sit up and take notice at the U19 World Cup.

Kamlesh Nagarkoti | Getty

India’s U19 World Cup winning star Jaipur’s Kamlesh Nagarkoti has been on cloud nine since his World Cup win. However, he had already received a big gift before the World Cup triumph; when Kolkata Knight Riders bought him in the IPL 2018 auction for Rs 3.2 crore.

This made Kamlesh Nagarkoti, 18, the most expensive buy among the India U-19 lot. Mumbai Mirror interviewed Nagarkoti and here are some excerpts from it.  

Nagarkoti talked about his first tour outside India to England, “There was a lot of excitement about how it would be. You only watch such places on TV before, how clean everything is and all that. To actually see it felt really good. People there are very frank and that was also something to learn from, how they deal with things. You have to follow traffic rules, for instance, no matter how late you are getting.

Talking about discipline instilled by coach Rahul Dravid during the U19 World Cup, Nagarkoti said, “I, Manjot Kalra and Shivam Mavi were there on the top of the mountain for quite some time, about a couple of hours. We had thought of going for some of the adventure activities there, but sir (head coach Rahul Dravid) refused. He said the tournament was going on, and there was no point in taking any risk. He would allow us to do a few things here and there, but we had to be back in our hotel by a certain time.

He also confirmed that the U19 boys didn’t break the curfew even once, “Actually we were a bit scared of sir. And we thought we should not break the curfew, so we never did it. (smiles) Honestly we didn’t. Well, we did think about it a few times but then we reasoned that nahin yaar, sir would have had something in mind when putting acurfew in place, so let’s follow it. But I would like to go out at night in Australia in the future.

Talking about giving autographs and photographs, Nagarkoti said, “Yes, I do. The first in India was at Mumbai airport when we came back from England (in August 2017). Of course, back in England, a lot of people would ask for photos and autographs.

He named Abhishek Sharma, Manjot Kalra and Shubman Gill as frequent selfie takers in the team. He also recalled that the first autograph he asked was that of Rahul Dravid.

He also said about feeling nervous for the upcoming IPL 2018 and playing against his friends from the U19 team, “Manjot (Delhi Daredevils) was telling me ki bachke rehna, maarunga mere saamne aayega toh (Beware I will hit you when you come on to bowl at me). All of us have played against each other a lot and know each other’s games. There is some nervousness as well as excitement as the start of the IPL draws closer.

He said that his family’s compliment was the best of all after the World Cup win, “Family’s of course. Papa had once come to watch a match in which I took three wickets in three balls. He always tells me to bowl the way I had done then. And asks me to not be afraid of anything. Just give my best.

He also said that he received some advice from his father after getting a multi crore deal in IPL, “I do not talk much about money in front of him. Once I had mentioned to him that we should have a new house. But he said that can wait, you keep working hard.”

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 22 Feb, 2018

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