The son of a painter from a small village Madraha, just 13 km away from Gorakhpur, Nishad started playing with leather ball just four years ago, and within a few months, he became an integral part of Gorakhpur Lions, a franchise in the UPT20 League and in two consecutive seasons, the boy made a mark by bagging six and eight wickets.

But this wasn’t enough to help him make the cut for an IPL franchise, and this is where former Uttar Pradesh skipper and Punjab Kings’ scout Ankit Rajpoot came into the picture.

Rajpoot advocated Nishad’s case strongly with Ponting and others and the boy got the contract of ₹30 lakh as an uncapped player for the side during the auction at Abu Dhabi early this week.

“Vishal impressed me a lot when I held the trials for the Gorakhpur Lions in Gorakhpur ahead of the UPT20 League in 2024, and from that day onwards, I thought this boy can make it to an IPL side,” said Rajpoot, head coach of Gorakhpur Lions.

“It wasn’t easy at all as first the bowler was put through the motions with the Andhra Pradesh team as a net bowler for almost 10 days during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Lucknow early this month and he was watched by AP’s mentor and assistant coach of Punjab Kings, Trevor Gonsalves in the nets,” said Rajpoot, adding, “Thereafter, my suggestion, supported by pics and videos, met the expectations of Ricky Ponting and Punjab Kings’ bowling coach and former India star Sairaj Bahutule.”

“What I like most about Vishal is his bowling style. He is a mystery bowler like Varun Chakravarthy and Ajantha Mendis and it’s hard to read his length with his style of gripping the ball. He is the most unpredictable spinner, who can hit your stumps from anywhere,” Rajpoot further added. “He has plenty of variations in his bowling and that suits the game plan in a T20 event.”

After getting a contract with Punjab Kings, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association asked to immediately join the camp for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, starting from Wednesday at Rajkot.

“Yes, I am very much in the camp, but so far have no idea of getting a place in the team for the Vijay Hazare Trophy,” said Nishad on Thursday. “If given a chance, I will try to give my best.”

A tennis-ball player, Nishad only turned to cricket with the leather ball four years ago when his coach Kalyan Singh Sir told him to give it a try at the Sanskriti Cricket Academy.

“It was hard and initially I found it hard even to hold, but after bowling a few deliveries I felt comfortable. In fact, one of my friends took me to Kalyan Sir’s academy as he saw a mystery bowler in me,” said Nishad.

“I had no idea that cricket could fetch me money too. I came to know about this only when I was given a handsome amount for playing in the UPT20 League for Gorakhpur Lions,” he said. “I am thankful to Kalyan Sir, Rajpoot Sir and even Moosi Raza Sir, who helped me a lot at the beginning as well as in the UPT20 League.”

Nishad, however, said the ₹30 lakh contract with Punjab Kings is quite big for his family, which is always struggling for funds. “I have seen poverty. Now, I can do something for my family and at home everybody is happy that at least one kid of the family is playing real cricket as all my brothers as well as my father too used to play cricket with tennis balls,” said Nishad.

The bowler, who hasn’t debuted for Uttar Pradesh, hopes to make his state debut soon. “Only this season, I made it to the first 150 players in the Under-23 team, but didn’t go further. But I wish to play for my state team as well as for Team India in future,” said Vishal, who is a passionate Virat Kohli fan.

“I always wanted to be a cricketer like Virat Kohli even from my school days. I would love to bowl to him, if God gives this opportunity to me in my life ever. For cricket, I left my studies after 12th and don’t miss matches of Kohli,” he concluded.