India’s 2018 U-19 World Cup winning stars Shivam Mavi and Shubman Gill received their maiden T20I caps on Tuesday for the first match against Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The transition period began for India with the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka as the team management decided to include the two youngsters in the squad. Shubman, who has already played 13 Tests and 15 ODIs, waited for his chance in the T20I side.
While it has been a tough ride for Mavi after his exploits in 2018 U-19 World Cup as persistent injuries hampered his chances. However, Mavi was influential for Uttar Pradesh across domestic white-ball competitions this year, picking up 10 wickets in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament and 14 scalps in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
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Shubman received his T20I debut cap from swashbuckling middle order batter Suryakumar Yadav, while Hardik handed over the cap to Mavi.
Interestingly, the duo is also part of the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans in Indian Premier League. Gill played a crucial role in the Titans’ title triumph last season, while they signed Mavi for a whopping INR 6 crore in the IPL 2023 mini-auction.
After getting the maiden India call-up Mavi was supremely confident that he won’t let Hardik down.
“Hardik Pandya supports every player. He is a great leader. It is very difficult to be the IPL champions 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,” the 24-year-old told PTI in an exclusive interview.
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At the toss, Hardik revealed Mavi got a chance in the XI as left-arm pacer Arshdeep wasn’t available for selection.
“Always been excited to play for the country, but obviously leading now makes it more special. Excited to see how this new bunch of guys express themselves. We were going to bat first. Yes this is a chasing ground but we want to put ourselves in more difficult situations generally in bilaterals. Anyone who comes here we will make sure we’ll give them the confidence. Two debutants today – Gill and Mavi. Arshdeep was not available,” Hardik added.
The BCCI also provided an update on Arshdeep’s absence.
“Note – Arshdeep Singh wasn’t available for selection for the 1st T20I against Sri Lanka since he has still not fully recovered from his illness,” the BCCI tweeted.
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