A Rs 20 lakh contract may not sound like much when deals worth crores were sealed at the IPL auction, but for tennis-ball sensation Ramesh Kumar, it has ensured that his father doesn’t have to make a living as a cobbler and his mother no longer needs to criss-cross villages in Punjab’s Fazilka district to sell bangles.

Ramesh, who is better known as Narine Jalalabad in tennis-ball circles, was already a Youtube star due to his exploits with both bat and ball. Post the auction and the signing with KKR last weekend, his story has reached a wider audience. “They have finally agreed to not work anymore. I never wanted them to do this work in the first place, but it had to be done out of necessity,” Ramesh, who once blasted a 10-ball 50 in a local tournament, told PTI.