Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) One man’s loss turns out to be another man’s gain as Delhi all-rounder Mayank Rawat will vouch on Thursday. An upset stomach for New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner paved the way for an opportunity, allowing the five-time champions to hand Rawat his Indian Premier League debut against the Punjab Kings in Match 24 at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.

The Delhi-based all-rounder, who bowls off-spin, has come up through the ranks, impressing the MI talent scouts with consistent performances in the Delhi Premier League.

Rawat was picked by the Mumbai Indians in the last IPL Auction at a base price of INR 30 lakh and is now sharing the dressing room with some of India’s leading players. He also has the opportunity to learn from the words of wisdom from international stars like Santner and AM Ghazanfar, besides batting greats like Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav, the India T20 captain who led the country to victory in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2006 a few weeks back.

Rawat’s journey to the Indian Premier League reflects years of persistence through the domestic cricket system.

The 26-year-old Rawat started his cricketing journey in Delhi under coach Rajesh Nagar, who has mentored him since 2011. A product of structured grassroots development, Rawat trained consistently through school and academy cricket, receiving strong support from his coaching setup during his formative years.

He showed early promise in age-group cricket, notably scoring 220 runs against Haryana at the Under-14 level and later producing another remarkable innings of 244 runs. However, he did not get enough chances to play early on, as despite these performances, consistent selection opportunities did not immediately follow. Rawat faced several years of limited chances and fluctuating form. However, he continued to work on his skills during this period, trying to improve his all-round game.

His resurgence came through strong performances in domestic competitions, particularly the Delhi Premier League, where his contributions brought him back into the spotlight and attracted the attention of IPL scouts.

On Thursday, he finally got his time under the arch lights at the Wankhede Stadium against PBKS. Will be able to make his mark on debut, just like Praful Hinge and Sakib Hossain of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Ashok Sharma of Gujarat Titans.

–IANS

bsk/