India, May 23 -- The towering sixes, audacious scoops and last-over carnage that define the Indian Premier League are often rehearsed far from the television glare, shaped by an invisible workforce that rarely gets acknowledged - the net bowlers.

While franchise superstars command crores and dominate headlines, an army of largely anonymous young pacers and spinners spend weeks hurling deliveries in practice nets and serving as crucial sparring partners in one of cricket's most lucrative leagues.

For many, it is cricket's most unusual apprenticeship: bowling relentlessly to the biggest names in the game, often being asked to imitate Jasprit Bumrah's yorkers, Sunil Narine's mystery spin, or Mitchell Starc's left-arm thunderbolts - all for...