Last April, Shivam Mavi was overrun for the first time by Bhanuka Rajapaksa in Wankhede, Mumbai and was taken to Khrina. The Sri Lankan batsman, who was representing the Punjab Kings at the time, squeezed his 22 runs off his five balls in the first, hitting him with straight sixes of four and three. From the sixth he caught him.
On Tuesday night, Rajapaksa’s Sri Lankan teammate Dhananjay de Silva beat him right there in the back-to-back borders. He intercepted the next ball. Before that, Mavi rattled the stumps of Patun Nissanka to win his first international wicket.
He heeded the captain’s call and gave India a breakthrough when Sri Lanka threatened to escape the match in the second half starts of Dasun Shanaka and Wanindhu Hasaranga. This was so necessary India imposed authority over their opponents in the game. He scalped another in his four overs and India dominated in his first T20 international match. It wasn’t Mavi’s fault that the match ended in a last-ball finish. His 4 for 22 in 4 overs was a debut blockbuster. He made a name for himself in international cricket.
“He never gives up,” Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore recalled during his IPL match last April. Mysore sought out raw Mavi following India’s victory at the 2018 U19 Worlds in his cup, KKR where he worked with him for five years and Calcutta where he left his academy to franchise Abhishek Nayar and Omkar. Under Salvi’s coaching, he developed him into a first-rate pacesetter. “He came to our academy whenever he had time and worked tirelessly under Nayar and Salvi,” says Mysore. “I waited six years after playing for the U19s. During those six years I had to work hard – I got injured too. For a while it was like my dream was still a dream. But I continued the IPL, so I was a little less nervous,” Mabi told the host station after the match. As a cricketer, Mavi is seen as a determined, indomitable player with a fighting spirit. Discipline is his forte, and he consistently scores 140 with his speedgun and moves the ball both ways. His one of Tuesday’s wickets was a fast-assembled and brought-in shipment. He later said it was the best of his four scalps.
“He’s a highly trained player and has a great work ethic,” said Naya, a former all-rounder from India and Mumbai. “His strength is his ability to handle pressure. He has played a lot of T20 cricket and is now very well prepared.
Nayar believes Mavi has a knack for getting big hitters at key stages. It was clear how he got rid of Hasaranga when Sri Lanka were 108-5 in 15 overs, Sri Lanka needing only about 10 runs in his last five games and he only needed one over. . They lost by two points.
“He was consistent and gave us some big hitters at KKR,” he recalls Nayar. “He’s someone who can run his KMPH over 140km and has the ability to throw a good yorker. He’s a great outfielder and I think it’s a great package. I am happy that I got the chance.”
Knight Riders assistant coach Bharat Arun was very impressed with Mavi. “He has an important pace. He is very good at executing his plans, he is a very slippery customer and he is a good bouncer. I think it’s an exciting prospect for
At a previous auction, Mavi was picked by the Gujarat Titans, but Mysore still considers the 24-year-old UP his pacesetter their own. “He has been with us through the hard times and the hard times and our best wishes are with him.”
Mysore chose him alongside U19 World Cup stars Shubman Gill and Kamlesh Nagarkotti at auction in 2018. Nagarkotti’s career was ruined by an injury, but Gil has already established himself as a star.After Tuesday night’s show, Mavi could be on the road to stardom, too.