LUCKNOW: When the IPL-2026 miniauction was on in Abu Dhabi, rightarm legbreak bowler Vishal Nishad was watching at Kanpur’s Kamla Club, at the Uttar Pradesh team’s camp for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy. The screen felt personal: one pick from any franchise could change his life.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The first round stung. “When I went unsold, I was sceptical,” he said. Then the third round arrived and Punjab Kings raised the paddle. “Punjab Kings bought me for Rs 30 lakh. This is a life-changing moment for me,” Nishad told TOI.
Nishad’s path to that IPL slot began far, far away from big-city cricket stadiums, in Jangal Ayodhya Prasad village in the Khorabar police station area in Gorakhpur. “I used to play cricket with a tennis ball,” he said. This was until his friend Vineet Pandey urged him to train with a leather ball instead. Nishad resisted for one reason: “I didn’t have any money.”Pandey refused to give up, spoke to a coach and Nishad found his way to the Sanskriti Cricket Academy in Gorakhpur. There, coach Kalyan Singh agreed to watch him bowl, of course while charging a fee.Then the coach heard about the family’s financial hardships and decided to change his mind. “When he learned about my poverty, he gave me training for three years without taking any money,” Nishad, who couldn’t even afford a cricket kit, said. “I practiced by borrowing kits, from shoes to bats, from other players.”
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In 2024, the first hurdle arrived with a UP T20 League trials. A practice match in Noida implied travel he couldn’t pay for. “I borrowed Rs 2000 from my friend in the village and went to Noida and took three wickets in the first practice match.” He made the cut, stayed on for camp, and on his UP T20 debut, picked up seven wickets in four matches for the Gorakhpur Lions. The next season brought six in five.The IPL didn’t arrive by accident. Nishad went for trials, including for Punjab Kings in Lucknow, and videos of his ‘mystery bowling’ began to be circulated among franchise talent spotters. Punjab Kings scout Ankit Rajpoot, who had first seen him with Gorakhpur Lions, said, “He has great talent.”Back home, the auction price carried weight. “My father is a carpenter and mason who works on daily wages. Our family never thought that a child from our family would play IPL,” Nishad said. He knows the spotlight is still distant, but the door is open. “I will try to make my identity if I get the opportunity.”
