“He stood out through the fitness tests, the cricket trials, and showed the skill, hunger and determination we were looking for.” That was how Janakpur Bolts proudly announced 17-year-old Rahul Yadav as their “iconic player” for the third season on the evening of October 25.

Two days later, Yadav did more than make his Nepal Premier League debut. He took two wickets and conceded just two runs in the two overs he bowled during the powerplay.

There was a stir in the media box when journalists received the line-ups for Karnali Yaks and Janakpur Bolts on their phones and saw Yadav in the playing XI.

The Bolts won the toss and captain Harmeet Singh elected to bowl first.

Veteran England all-rounder Moeen Ali opened the bowling for Janakpur and dismissed the dangerous Mark Watt. Nepal’s experienced spinner Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi bowled the second over, in which Deepak Dumre struck two consecutive sixes.

Dumre took a single off the final delivery, keeping the strike for the third over. Then came the surprise: 17-year-old Yadav was handed the ball.

Less than a month earlier, Yadav had been playing on the uneven, open cricket grounds of Rautahat. Now he was bowling in front of thousands of fans at TU International Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur, a venue many aspiring Nepali cricketers dream of reaching.

It was a stage Yadav, too, had dreamed of playing on.

His Facebook profile picture shows him holding a man-of-the-match award from the Chandrapur Cricket League 2082. The caption reads, “Pp change after long time”, followed by emojis. After his performance against Karnali, he may have several new photographs to choose from.

Yadav looked composed as he took the ball and began his short run-up, seemingly unfazed by the presence of fast-bowling great Shoaib Akhtar.

A right-arm medium pacer, Yadav put his body into the delivery to generate pace. He bowled short, tempting Dumre to cut the ball. But a bottom edge sent it on to the stumps, giving Yadav a wicket with his very first delivery in the NPL.

His impressive debut did not end there.

Dumre was replaced by Hussain Talat, the experienced Pakistani all-rounder. Yadav kept the senior batter in check. After four consecutive dot balls, Talat finally got off the mark with a single off the last ball of the over.

Jimmy Neesham and Moeen Ali bowled the fourth and fifth overs, respectively, conceding a six each. Karnali were then 37 for 2, with Ariful Islam on 19 off nine balls and Talat on three off 11.

Singh turned to the teenager again for the final over of the powerplay, and Yadav delivered once more. After two dot balls, Talat, under pressure to score, was caught by Anil Kumar Sah. Yadav conceded just one run in the over.

His four overs cost only 15 runs and brought two wickets, playing a key role in restricting Karnali to 132 for 9.

Janakpur could not chase the target. They were bowled out for 113 in 19.3 overs, losing by 19 runs. Yadav was the only Janakpur batter left unbeaten, finishing on one off 10 balls.

He came in at No. 10 with Karnali bowler Unish Bikram Singh Thakuri on a hat-trick after dismissing Jimmy Neesham and Aaditya Mahata with the first two balls of the 16th over. With his team in trouble, Yadav survived the next three deliveries before taking a single off the final ball to give Abhishekh Tiwari the strike. Tiwari went on to hit two sixes.

Janakpur lost, but Yadav had given the franchise plenty of reason to be encouraged by his performance.

“I will give my 100 percent for the team,” Yadav said in a video posted by Janakpur Bolts, responding to a question about what he would do if selected.

In the video, published on October 16, Yadav was among seven teenagers selected from across Madhesh Province through the franchise’s Talent Hunt. They were placed in the Bolts’ “development squad”, a group of promising players set to train alongside the main squad throughout the tournament.

The other six players in the development squad are Aadarsha Bhandari, Khil Raj Sharraf, Navin Kumar Yadav, Rohan Kumar Sah, Md Miraj and Sushant Singh.

Janakpur’s decision to name Yadav its “iconic player” and include him in the starting XI quickly looked justified. The franchise’s captain was impressed, too.

“I think he is very deceptive, and someone who has never played him would always find it difficult in the first few balls,” Singh said at the post-match press conference.

Singh said Yadav’s skill set and pace could make him the next big thing in Nepali cricket if he continued to work hard and received more opportunities. Nepal’s national team, he added, needed bowlers with his pace.