Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Kartik Tyagi has repaid the franchise’s faith with 16 wickets from 12 games. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

“Ye aisi umar hoti hai jab aap josh mein cheez kar dete ho magar ye nahi sochte iska result kya hoga.”

Vipin Vats does not mince words when he recalls the tumultuous journey of his ward Kartik Tyagi.

Praveen Kumar, Sudeep Tyagi and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had already blazed a trail from his stables to the national side, so by the time Kartik ended up under his watch, Vats knew a thing or two about producing a pacer good enough for international cricket.

Kartik was earmarked to follow the path of his predecessors. He played for India Under-19 and then was signed up by Rajasthan Royals for the IPL 2020 season. An injury crisis during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2020-21 got Kartik invaluable time in the Indian team as a net bowler.

Gifted with a lanky frame and quick arm speed, which set him apart from the rest, according to Vats, Kartik was earning a reputation for rushing the batters with nippy pace and bounce. In the background, however, concerns also loomed over Kartik’s frequent bouts with injuries.

“What happened was that he was putting too much load on his body at a time when his muscles were still developing and not ready for that level of intensity. So, we made him realise that he needs to progress gradually. He was barely 20 when he went to the IPL. So obviously, he won’t be able to perform like a 27-28-year-old who is at the peak of his abilities,” Vats says.

READ: Would love to own a team in WPL, says Punjab Kings co-owner Mohit Burman

Kartik would clock 150kmph at times, yet gametime in the IPL was limited. By 2024, recurring shin splints and stress injuries restricted him. He was with the Gujarat Titans that season and played just once. “This is a tender age where you make decisions without enough thought or understanding the consequences. And that is what happened; he got injured, and he could do nothing but sit out and recover,” Vats says.

This was the cue for Kartik to mend his ways and mould himself again. Kartik pulled out of IPL 2025 and reached out to Ashish Kaushik at Yos Sports Health, who had erstwhile worked as head physiotherapist at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (now Centre of Excellence) and helped him through the U-19 circuit.

The root cause for both shin splints and back stress lay in Kartik’s load-up to the crease.

Clinical care was offered for a certain period which was to heal his bones, but a large part of the treatment was to fix his running technique, which was leading to fatigue. “Work was done on energy efficiency and to find a way that would make his weight transfer more fluid and that would eventually reduce stress. We got a lot of positives from those changes.

“This went on for a good few weeks; there was a lot of back and forth. When you are out for a long period of time, doubts can creep into young players. They need continuous guidance to stay on the path so that old habits do not creep back in and they can stick to the plan,” Kaushik said.

ALSO READ: IPL 2026: ‘I don’t think slower ball is a weakness for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi,’ says RR batting coach

Even Vats’ message to Kartik, whom he had seen since he was seven, was simple. “There are bad times in a player’s career. Ups and downs are a part. You have to fight through your bad days. Every day is not a Sunday; you have to wait for seven days. Sachin and Kohli, all great players, have had bad spells; they just kept working on their game and kept improving,” he would tell Kartik.

By December 2025, Kartik was back to the domestic grind. He played three games each in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Uttar Pradesh. The returns were modest, but the tempo was back. It even convinced the selectors to give him a run for a First-Class match, his first since January 2024.

This was enough to convince Kolkata Knight Riders to sign the 25-year-old, and Kartik has repaid the faith with 16 wickets from 12 games, his best season-haul after his nine wickets in his first year in 2020.

“Now he’s not pushing himself more than his limit, and the result is for everyone to see. Before the IPL, he even came to me and said,  'Aapki baat thodi der se samajh mein aayi (it took me some time to get what you meant)’,” Vats says.

This year during the IPL, multiple commentators, including Dale Steyn, highlighted the small changes in his release points and final load-up at the popping crease. But Vats put them down as necessary embellishments that are needed to evolve one’s skills.

“ Next time dekhoge, toh aur change milega. Abhi main bataunga nahi kya karna, par aap dekhna bas. (Next time you watch him on TV, you’ll find even more changes. I won’t tell you what just yet, but wait and watch). He is doing well for now; he’s getting the performances, so we’ll try to make him even better,” Vats says.

It’s been five years since his ward had knocked on the Indian team’s door. With the new-found belief under his wings, Kartik is ready to knock it down now, he says.

Published on May 18, 2026