Mangesh Yadav's journey: from traveling unreserved in trains to a 5.2 crore IPL payday

Mangesh Yadav can't believe he's going to play in the IPL. On auction day, he hoped for one bid, but four teams went hard for him. When the bidding ceased, Royal Challengers Bengaluru had signed him for INR 5.2 crore, a "life-changing sum".

It's been a week since the auction and Mangesh, only 23 years old, is still coming to grips with his newfound fame. "I've received more calls than I ever have previously," he says with a smile. "But these are things I'll have to deal with going forward.

Mangesh is a left-arm allrounder who has the ability to hit speeds of 140kph. Early on, his stock delivery was the ball angling across the right-hander. Over time, he's worked on bringing it back in and also developed some slower variations. At RCB, he will likely be a replacement for Yash Dayal. Their scouts believe Mangesh is good enough to be in the first XI straightaway.

"I didn't know how all of it feels, but I'm blessed to have a lot of people from my own state, like Rajat [Patidar] bhaiyya, Venky [Iyer] bhaiyya and Anand Rajan [former Madhya Pradesh seamer] sir for guidance," he says.

Until seven years ago, Mangesh was a tennis-ball player for hire, travelling in unreserved train compartments or state-run buses to play local tournaments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The kamaai (earnings) from these matches helped him be independent.

"Not having to ask my father for money felt like an achievement," he says. "Today, I still don't know how to process the feeling of getting such a massive bid. I want to make my parents feel comfortable. For that, I have to work hard and can't get carried away.

"My mother used to lob balls at me in front of our house in Boragaon when I was seven. That's how I started. My father drives trucks. I realised the value of money and hard work when I saw him wake up every morning at 3am and drive through the day on dangerous roads.

"He has worked hard for the family all these years. Now, I want to make him comfortable. My youngest sister [they're four siblings] loves cricket and is an aspiring bowler. I want to be able to inspire her to play full time too without worrying about finances."

Mangesh's journey to become a proper cricketer began at 16, when he moved to Noida. Sunil Sinha, a family friend, convinced his father of his talent after watching him at a local tournament, where Mangesh was Player of the Series. He took home INR 21,000 as a cash prize.

In Noida, the boy who used to copy Mitchell Johnson and RP Singh's action joined Phoolchand Sharma's Wonder Cricket Club. Phoolchand was a renowned coach who had trained Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shivam Mavi and Anureet Singh, the former Railways seamer.

Mangesh impressed Phoolchand with his natural left-arm angle and swing, and got his hostel fees waived for the next three years. At the academy, Mangesh impressed Tanmay Srivastava, the former UP captain and current BCCI umpire, who used to conduct coaching sessions.

"Tanmay bhai gave me spikes, kit, clothing, cricket gear all by himself for years together, until recently," Mangesh says with gratitude. "He has been a guiding force. He took special interest in me, spoke a lot to me about developing my skills, working on my game. He would go the extra mile."

Srivastava tried to help Mangesh break into the UP set-up, but the decisive shift in Mangesh's career came when former IPL and Madhya Pradesh fast bowler Anand Rajan stepped in.

Acting on a recommendation from Srivastava, Rajan brought Mangesh to Indore and mapped out a pathway to competitive cricket by identifying opportunities, placing him in the right environment, and ensuring consistent exposure.

"Tanmay and I go back a long way," Rajan says. "He told me, 'I'm sending this young kid to you. He's very good. Take care of him. See if he can get some opportunities in MP. I got him admitted to the same academy where Venkatesh Iyer plays - MYCC. He was a consistent performer there, but even there, it wasn't easy to get consistent chances.

Rajan's interventions - directing him to district trials in Jabalpur, backing him through lean phases - eventually led to Mangesh's breakthrough for Madhya Pradesh.

"The idea of asking him to go to Jabalpur was to ensure more game time, since competition for places wasn't as intense," Rajan says. "And he immediately made their district team, picking 35-40 wickets in a season.

Those performances earned Mangesh a place in the MP squad for the 2024 Buchi Babu Invitational tournament in Tamil Nadu. But it wasn't until the 2025 MPT20 that his stocks rose.

Playing for Gwalior Cheetahs, Mangesh picked up 14 wickets in six games and was named Player of the Tournament. This is when IPL scouts took note; he ended up trialing with Mumbai Indians, RCB, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals. His trials with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings did not happen due to mass flight cancellations across the country in early December.

Mangesh finally earned the opportunity to make his senior team debut at the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on the back of his MPT20 performances. He picked up three wickets in two games and showcased his hitting abilities with a 12-ball 28 against Punjab.

"Anand sir taught me how to think like a professional cricketer," Mangesh says.

A week on from the auction, little about Mangesh's routine has changed. The next day, he was back in Indore to train with Rajan and work on his run-up and "some technicalities" before joining the squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Training remains his priority, and while his phone still rings more than he'd like, the excitement is tempered by an awareness of how quickly fortunes can shift in cricket.

On auction night, Mangesh allowed himself a moment to dream, but he is careful not to let the afterglow linger longer than necessary. The attention and the money still feel unreal, but his focus is now on the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

"I've imagined what it'll be like wearing the RCB jersey and standing on top of my run-up," he says. "But I've also imagined picking up wickets and winning games for MP. That is my primary goal."