Shivam Mavi expressed his elation after earning his maiden call-up to the Indian team for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, starting on January 3, 2023.
Mavi was recently signed by the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2023 auction for a whopping Rs 6 crores and has been named in India's T20I squad for the Sri Lanka series.
Reacting to the back-to-back good news, the 24-year-old lauded Pandya and hopes to get at least one opportunity against Sri Lanka.
Shivam Mavi was quoted as saying by PTI, “Hardik Pandya supports every player. He is a great leader. It is very difficult to be the IPL champion in the first outing but he managed to do it. He led Gujarat Titans from the front and became champions. He is a calm leader but took some bold decisions.”
He added, “As a captain Hardik bhai is very shrewd and a master tactician. He knows exactly whom to bowl when and whom to promote in the batting order. I know it is not going to be easy for me but I am just hoping to get a game, perform there and be a regular for India.”
However, it was not easy for Mavi to attract the selectors and franchisees after a difficult IPL 2022 with the Kolkata Knight Riders, where he took only five wickets in six games. He worked for hours to bring variations to his bowling, especially his death bowling skills and the bouncer and yorker at the nets.
His all-nighters paid off during the domestic season, as he picked up 10 wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament and 14 wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which earned him a big IPL deal with the GT and his maiden call-up to Team India for the upcoming T20I series.
Mavi said, “I didn’t do anything different. I just worked hard in the nets. I know I can generate speed, so just concentrated on bringing variations into my bowling. It paid off as I became more consistent this year. A lot of senior players in the Uttar Pradesh team helped me like Anureet Singh, and Parwinder Awana, who is also from Noida. They taught me how to bowl, how to plan out things.”
Mavi had won the U19 World Cup for India with Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw in 2018, and they all made their India debuts a couple of years ago, but the pacer took time to grab attention for national selection.
Reacting to the same, Mavi said: “It’s a great feeling and a proud moment to represent your country. Shubman and Prithvi made their India debuts before me but I knew it’s all about the right time. Every individual has his or her luck and time.”
On getting big deal from the GT at the mini-auction despite a below-par performance in IPL 2022, Mavi said: “Yes, I was expecting something around Rs 5 and 6 crores. It is a result of my consistent performances. I always wanted to be in GT because I have heard that their management is very good. GT has Hardik bhai and (Ashish) Nehra bhai, the two best thinkers of the game.”
Mavi started his career as a top-order batter but transformed into a genuine fast bowler under his childhood coach Phoolchand Sharma. He signed off by saying, “I started as a batter but I also used to bowl at nets but later I noticed I didn’t have batting skills to become a proper batter. I started to realise after sometime that bowling suits me more than batting. Becoming a bowling all-rounder would be a better option for me.”
(With PTI Inputs)
