Forgotten kit bag propels Jabalpur lad to MPL purple cap

Bhopal: On the morning of the 2018 Jabalpur club trials, 23-year-old Parush Mandal realized he had left his bat, gloves and pads at home. For a teenager trying to break into leather-ball cricket, it looked like the end of the road.

Missing the trials would mean losing eligibility for a big club in the city.With minutes to spare, Mandal made a call. He walked up to the selectors and volunteered to bowl. “I had only played with a tennis ball, but I didn’t want to miss the chance,” he recalls.What happened next surprised everyone in the nets. His pace had carry, his line was disciplined, and he seemed to read batsmen far older than him. By the end of the session, no one was asking him about his bat.

He was picked as a bowler. That slip changed everything.The batsman who grew up perfecting strokes in school and street cricket put his bat away. Bowling became his only pursuit. Eight years later, the gamble paid off on Madhya Pradesh’s biggest domestic stage. Playing for Royal Nimar Eagles in MPL 2026, Mandal claimed 21 wickets in 10 matches. He won the Purple Cap and set the league’s all-time record for wickets in a single season across three editions.

His incisive spells and knack for breakthroughs helped Nimar Eagles reach the final. Teammates and coaches point to the same traits: discipline, accuracy, and calm under pressure. Qualities, they say, that were forged the day he had to improvise.“If I had brought my bat that day, I might have stayed a batsman,” Mandal admits. “But fate wanted otherwise.” “Mandal is an incredible talent,” said Nimar Eagles head coach Sanjay Pandey. “If he stays consistent, he can achieve remarkable things.”Now, with IPL ambitions in his sights, Mandal is focused on sharpening variations and fitness to catch the eye of higher-level scouts. For Madhya Pradesh cricket, the boy who turned up without a kit has become its newest statistical standout.