Kamlesh Nagarkoti: You can get depressed if you do not play for 3-4 years

After being an important element of India’s U19 World Cup win in 2018, Kamlesh Nagarkoti has been on the sidelines because of injuries. He was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 3.2 crore in 2018, but has not been able to make his IPL debut yet. The Rajasthan pacer is hoping to finally play for KKR in this season’s IPL. In an interview, he talks about his injury comeback, his relationship with U-19 batchmate Shivam Mavi and the support from his franchise.

What is the relation between injury comeback and mental strength? You work hard to recover from physical injury. And the other thing is recovering mentally from the injury. How important is that?

It is very, very important. Because if you are physically strong and if you are not mentally, there is an up-down fluctuation in the mind. You work on your mental strength - probably with early morning yoga and meditation. I believe in doing yoga and meditating because your mind stays really fresh, and you always stay positive. So I believe that how much ever you are training, and how much ever you go to the gym, what you wake up in the morning and do (like yoga and meditation) also is very important.

Nagarkoti and (Shivam) Mavi are looked at as a combination since Under-19 days. How is your camaraderie and partnership with him?

We have a very good partnership. I have heard and even seen that people talk about how we do not get along well because of the competitiveness between us, but there is nothing like that. We do compete, but it’s healthy. We think that if one has to take three wickets, the other one will take four. But it is not like we are ever angry with each other’s performance. We’ve been together since the beginning, since our Under-19 days. So we make each other understand things. If he has a problem, then I make him understand things and vice versa. So we have a really good bond.

When there is a gap in a cricketer’s life, who are your inspirations who have also faced something similar and you have spoken to them? Especially fast bowlers, about how you can manage that gap in your young career…

I have spoken to Varun Aron and Ashish Nehra about this. So they explained to me that injuries in the beginning is something every bowler has to deal with, but how you make yourself stronger and come back is what matters. If you think about being injured and feel helpless, then you feel that nothing is going to happen. But the trick is to be positive and feel that you have to get out of this and do well, and that is important in every sport. If you play whichever sport and are injured, how you come back to the game is the most important aspect after a setback.

Even though you did not play for KKR in these last two years, you have been close to and around the team. Explain the process, how you were in touch with people from KKR, what the conversations were like initially and how they supported you…

Firstly, how much ever I praise KKR, it is always going to be very less. Because of how much I have seen with (KKR CEO) Venky (Mysore) sir and how much I have interacted with any staff, I would feel really good about it because they would always motivate me saying that ‘if nothing happens now, you will play next year.’ So that used to motivate me to make myself stronger and that I will get to play really good cricket. When every player is going through a weak or bad phase and does not get to play cricket, he has a gap of three-four years, he could get sad or even get depressed. It is important that you maintain yourself in these tough times, you have a support system, so that feels really good. Like how the KKR team was there for me in those times.

What is the role of (bowling coach) Kyle Mills and (assistant bowling coach) Omkar Salvi? Especially Salvi, since you have spent a lot of time with him…

I met Omkar Salvi sir two years ago, and I had no idea who he was. But I met him on the ground and asked him things, he made me understand and explained things well about how I as a bowler need to work on my technical skills, and gave me knowledge that every bowler must know. So I really liked working with him and got to learn a lot.