When the auction for un-capped players took place in February, there were many unknown faces that came to light. Many players termed as ‘the future’ of Indian cricket made their way to different teams. The youngsters eager to showcase their talent at the grandest stage were roped in for big money. Quite a few talented lads, got an opportunity of a lifetime.

Kishore Kamath was one of those talented youngster who was picked up by us. A leg-spinner by trait, went for a whopping 1.4 crores, 14 times his base price. Kishore Kamath came into lime-light when he gave great performances in the Karnataka Premier League for Hubli Tigers, where he was selected because of his strong performances in KSCA first division. He had ten wickets from 7 games giving away less than 6 runs an over. After his exploits in KPL he was invited to RCB for try outs. The 21 year old youngster hails from Dharwad, in Hubli, where he trains at the KSCA academy under his father Pramod Kamath. We kept an eye on this youngster and snapped him up at the auction.

There was yet another talented boy who made waves, after making his Ranji debut. When the auction hammer went down, it read Nathu Singh sold for 3.2 crores to Mumbai Indians. Not many people knew about this youngster, or about his achievements. Nathu Singh is the son of Bharat Singh, who works at a wire factory near Jaipur. Singh made headlines for clocking over 145 km/h, consistently, giving him way to the U-19 Rajasthan team. The speedster trained in the MRF Pace Academy under Glenn McGrath who was mighty impressed with the youngster’s abilities. He once again made news when he debuted for Rajasthan and came back with figures of 7 for 87. He even got a chance to play in the Board President XI’s squad against South Africa. He has an impressive T-20 record of 21 wickets in 11 matches. We tracked his growth from an U-19 player for Rajasthan to the squad of Board President XI and got him on board the first chance they got. “We raised the paddle late because we knew Nathu would go at a certain price. We didn’t have any apprehensions about him so we went ahead and picked him. Actually, we had budgeted more for him but are happy we got him at this price,” said Akash Ambani. From an academy in Surana to being picked up by the defending champions for 3.2 crores, Nathu Singh has certainly come a long way.

The way we are playing, the team combination looks pretty much settled, and these youngsters might not get a chance to don the Mumbai colours, this season. However, they can learn a lot from this season as they will have to adapt to the hectic schedule of the tournament. While doing all this the two need to make sure they remain fresh and prepared to perform for the team whenever needed. It is a great learning curve for these lads as they will be ready and hungrier than ever to perform in the next season.