Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti: Kolkata Knight Riders' faith in young pace duo pays rich dividends

Bengaluru, October 1: Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi combined to take the heart out of Rajasthan Royals' chase, sharing four wickets equally between them on Wednesday (September 30). A terrific performance alright, but it was also a result of sweat, perseverance and ability to break the pain barriers by these two young pacers.

Nagarkoti and Mavi rose to prominence during India's U-19 World Cup triumph in 2018 under Prithvi Shaw. The Kolkata Knight Riders bagged both the rising stars for that year's IPL. But as fate would have it, both missed the IPL 2018 due to respective injuries.

Mavi played nine matches in the IPL 2019 but was largely unimpressive picking up just 5 wickets at 9.64, but Nagarkoti continued to warm the benches. Mavi also had a scare when he suffered a back niggle in December last year, and was in danger of missing the IPL 2020 had it taken place in the regular window of April-May.

In fact, Mavi did not train until this June. In that context, it was a blessing for him that the IPL 2020 was delayed due to the Covid 19 pandemic. He regained his fitness to a good extent once the tournament began on September 19, nearly six months after the original schedule.

However, few teams would have kept their faith in these youngsters for so long through all those turbulences. When the IPL auction was held in December 2019, the future of both Nagarkoti and Mavi was in shade and if anyone expected the KKR to let them go was proved wrong. Even if the team had set them free, nobody would have faulted them either.

Mavi and Nagarkoti repaid the Kolkata Knight Riders' faith in them in gold against Rajasthan Royals. Mavi got into act first, dismissing Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson. Buttler was began to look dangerous when he made 21 off 16 balls with a four and two sixes. But his effort to steer a full delivery from Mavi ended in the hands of Varun Chakravarthy at third man.

Samson, the man in red-hot form, wanted to pull Mavi but a weak shot resulted in a simple catch for Sunil Narine at mid-wicket.

"When I started, the ball was seaming around. So, I kept to normal line and length. It was a little different after seeing the wicket, thought it would be flat. But it was seaming around so I kept it tight. I've played against some of these big players before so I knew what they would do, so I made sure I just stuck to the lines and lengths," said Mavi.

Nagarkoti soon joined for his teammate, taking out Robin Uthappa and Riyan Parag in his first over itself. Nagarkoti later chipped in the field too, taking a sensational tumbling catch to dismiss Jofra Archer off Varun Chakravarthy.

It was Nagaroti's second IPL match ever after joining the KKR in 2018. It was quite natural that Nagarkoti thanked them profusely for all the belief they invested in him.

"The wicket was important, because the situation was a little bit on our side so I just kept my plans and executed correctly. I just want to say thanks to my family and the support staff who have supported me through the journey. Many people have helped - my family, (Rahul) Dravid sir, Abhishek (Nayar) bhaiyya. I just want to say thanks. It is really nice experience, Pat Cummins is a really good bowler and I learn so much from him and just execute in the match," said Nagarkoti.

"It's been 2 years in the making waiting to see Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nargakoti together again. Great compliment to Venky Mysore and @KKRiders for staying the course with these two young men," tweeted former West Indies pace bowler Ian Bishop, now doing commentary during the IPL 2020.

Their journey together that once was stalled, has now resumed. Perhaps, the duet is going to hit higher notes soon.