Kamlesh Nagarkoti is an Indian cricketer, who plays for Rajasthan in the domestic circuit. Born on 28 December 1999 in Barmer, he is among the upcoming fast bowlers in India and can execute his role as an all-rounder too whenever needed. He is a right-arm fast bowler with right-handed batting style. He has an ability to ball at a speed of more than 140 kph and can bowl for long spells too.
In the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy, on 26 February 2017, Nagarkoti made his List A cricket debut for Rajasthan against Mumbai. In this match, he took one wicket and remained unbeaten on 21 runs. Two days after his debut in List A matches, Kamlesh took the first-ever hat-trick for Rajasthan in List A cricket in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Gujarat.
Later on, Nagarkoti took 14 wickets in two youth Tests against England Under-19 and earned his place in India's Under-19 squad for the 2018 World Cup. He burst onto the scene during India U-19 opening match against Australia U-19, where he took 3 wickets and bowled at a consistent pace above 145 kph with a peak pace of 149 kph.
India won this world cup with finals by playing against Australia again. In this final match held on 3 February Nagarkoti took two wickets and dismissed Australia’s U19 captain Jason Sangha to seal the match for the Indian batters as the colts won the match and the tournament by 8 wickets.
Rahul Dravid was so much impressed with the raw pace that he personally monitored him and included him in the U-23 team for the Asia Cup.
Riding high on the success of the U-19 World Cup win, Nagarkoti was snaffled up by Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL auction in February 2018, for a whopping sum of INR 3.2 (USD 500,000 approx.) crore . However, a fractured foot took him out of his maiden IPL and later, a recurring back injury paused his career for 19 months. KKR have persisted with him for two seasons and the rising star is expected to show his true potential for the franchise in the 2020 season.
With roots in Uttarakhand, Nagarkoti was spotted in a Jaipur maidan by coach Surendra Rathore, who encouraged him to join the academy. Nagarkoti went on to progress quickly and developed sharp inswinger and reverse-swing bowling skills that helped him constantly bowl batsmen.
