‘Slumdog’ Kamran Khan is the new star of the IPL

Could an 18-year-old 'slumdog' be the next Indian cricketing sensation? IPL franchise the Rajasthan Royals seem to think so after buying the previously unknown fast bowler Kamran Khan for a meagre $24,000 and then tossing him the ball at the end of last week's match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, who needed only seven runs to win from the final over with none other than former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly at the crease.

The Royals' faith paid off though, as Khan tore in to dismiss Ganguly, limit the Knight Riders to only six runs and take the game into a decisive 'super over', in which both sides batted for one extra over. Once again Royal's captain Shane Warne gave Khan the ball and, once again, he was equal to the task.

Not bad for a young man whose family were so poor that he used to sleep on railway platforms, had to carve his own first cricket bat and could not afford the medical treatment to prevent both his mother and father dying prematurely in the last five years. "I have seen several major setbacks in my life," Khan told the Indian Express newspaper after his match-winning performance. "I am used to pressure."

Khan was brought to the cricketing world's attention by a stroke of fortune that would not have been out of place in the film Slumdog Millionaire. The Rajasthan Royals head coach, Darren Berry, first saw the diminutive teenager at a low-level Mumbai Twenty20 tournament last year and decided to sign him up to play in a squad that includes the likes of Warne, Graham Smith, Shaun Tait and Morne Morkel. Since then, Khan has become one of the IPL's hottest properties, capable of propelling the ball at more than 140kph and in possession of one of the best yorkers in the game.

But behind every lucky slumdog there is a great director, and Khan credits Warne, his captain, for showing such faith in him. "Before the final over of the match Warne asked me to bowl. I was stunned after watching his faith on my bowling ability and agreed to take the challenge," Khan said. "I had played only the club cricket prior to the IPL and if I am playing at this level today, all credit goes to Warne. His faith on me is most important factor behind my success."

Such is Khan's success in the IPL that he now has a strong chance of being picked up, if not by India, then by a first-class team in another country. But despite Khan's tender age, success has still come too late. "I'm happy and sad too," he said of his new found fame. "Had this money come two years back, I might not have lost my mother." ·