Bengaluru, March 25 -- Before Mangesh Yadav ever bowled a ball in professional cricket, his father Ramavadh Yadav would work through the night, wondering how he would find money for his son's dream.

He invested everything he had in a boy who first played cricket in a small courtyard with his mother. Mangesh Yadav now holds an Rs 5.2 crore contract with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a release said.

Reflecting on their financial woes, Mangesh's father said, "I had to struggle a lot for money. Sometimes I couldn't sleep at night, thinking about how I would raise money for him. The life of a truck driver is no life at all. You don't have time to eat or bathe. When the truck is full, you worry about offloading, and when it...