One of the delights for those who have been watching Indian Cricket recently has been the emergence of young fast bowling talents in the country. One talent of that has captured everyone's imagination amongst them, has been the U-19 fast bowler Shivam Mavi.
Shivam caught Rahul Dravid's eyes in the U-19 set up for last year's ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup and the great man wasted no time in unleashing the talent at that level. Shivam impressed there and was then purchased by the Kolkata Knight Riders for the just-concluded Indian Premier League season.
Recently Shivam Mavi was heard talking about his experience and sudden & pleasant change in his life. Shivam is very pleased to have played for a successful franchise like KKR.
"It was a great experience for me. Being an all-rounder, I learned a lot from my seniors and experienced players like my coach Jacque Kallis, Mitchell Jhonson among others, Before the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (his debut), it was decided in a meeting that I’ll bowl the first over, then somewhere in the middle and the remaining two at the end. I was ready for that. But, it did not go as planned. I was given the 15th over. That time I became nervous. After one or two balls, I cooled myself down. After my 1st over, I was confident that I’ll get another one. But, that didn’t happen too"
Shivam realizes that these are all part of his learnings for a long haul in top-level cricket. He is very happy to have played under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik and cherishes meeting Shah Rukh Khan.
"This was the first time he(Dinesh Karthik) was leading a side in IPL and this was my first season too. I enjoyed playing with him. I hope next year he’ll come up with some amazing captaincy plans"
"I met him (SRK) on my IPL debut. He’s calm and cool. While I was leaving for the stadium, he met me and wished all the best. He also said ‘do your best and don’t take any pressure"
Meeting India's biggest Bollywood name aside, Shivam also got the chance to spend time with Indian Cricket's biggest name, as he shared a few moments with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and he got a simple but great advice from the great man, who also praised him for his pace.
"I met MS Dhoni after our game with them and asked for his feedback on my performance. He told me that I was bowling at a good speed and that it’s not easy to hit on my bowling. He advised me to keep the focus on my line and length"
Shivam wants to play the next year's world cup in England, which is a great ambition to have. He said, "I am bowling at a good speed, getting swing as well. I played in England earlier, so I think these factors will be in my favour to get picked in India’s WC squad"
(Inputs from InUth.com)
