Nagaland leggie on IPL teams’ radar
MUMBAI: Kra-vi-toe’ it is,” Khrievitso Kense said over a phone call from Chennai. Quarantining in Chennai ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-dayers, the 16-year-old leg-spinner is used to people not getting that ‘h’ and ‘s’ in his first name are silent. And then he is asked about his roots.
Kense comes from Dimapur, Nagaland’s biggest city. His forefathers belonged to Angami Naga ethnic group who were once into cultivation and livestock-rearing. Kense has no idea about the tribe’s past. “I don’t know what my name means,” he said with a sheepish laugh.
What Kense does know is how to spin the ball, fast. So impressed were some Indian Premier League (IPL) talent scouts that the leg-spinner made the 292-player shortlist from 1194 applicants for the auction in Chennai on February 18. Come auction-day, Kense, his five siblings, parents, grandfather will be hoping for a cricketer from
Nagaland to break into IPL.
Nagaland coach Kanwaljit Singh has helped Kense catapult from U-16 to Nagaland’s T20 side in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy this year. ”I had told our captain Jonathan (Rongsen) to bring any youngster he finds exciting to the trials. The moment I saw Khrievitso, I found his fastish leg-breaks very exciting. We drafted him in the team straightaway,” he said.
Kense lived up to Singh’s faith by picking seven wickets in four matches in the Mushtaq Ali meet. It is Singh’s second opinion the Mumbai Indians’ talent scouts sought before Kense was called for their pre-auction trials. Since then, Rajasthan Royals too have trialled Kense.
“When I was seven-years-old, I would play cricket with the tennis ball my friends,” Kense said. “The first ball I bowled with the leather ball was when I was 12. My leg-spin began to come out well. In Nagaland, football is very popular. I also play football and table tennis, but on TV, I only watch cricket.”
Kense often dreams of bowling like his idol Rashid Khan in the IPL. “I have not seen him succumbing to pressure. I don’t see a reason why he will falter against any big names,” said Singh. “He is blessed with his trajectory and control. Even when he is hit, he finds a way to comeback. I can say one thing, whichever team picks him, they won’t regret it.”