‘Playing alongside Rohit, Bumrah in IPL will be great learning curve’

Johannesburg: South Africa wicket-keeper batter Ryan Rickelton can’t wait to share the Mumbai Indians dressing room with teammates Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah and feels his debut IPL season will be a big learning curve for his career.

Rickelton plays for MI Cape Town in the SA20 and played a crucial part in the team’s maiden title on Saturday night with a 15-ball 33. He was picked up by Mumbai Indians for his base price of Rs 1 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“I am extremely excited to make my debut in the IPL. I always wanted to play in the IPL and MI is such a powerful and great franchise so I’m really looking forward to getting there in a few weeks. I can’t wait to get going again,” Rickelton said in an interaction here.

“To play in the same group with Rohit (Sharma), Hardik (Pandya) and Jasprit (Bumrah) and everyone is going to be a great learning curve for me and a hell of an opportunity. So when the time comes, I will definitely be up for it,” said the 28-year-old, who grabbed headlines with his 259 runs knock in the second Test against Pakistan in January this year. The top run-getter in SA20’s second season last year, Rickelton has scored 336 runs in eight matches with a strike rate of 178.72 in the just-concluded edition.

MI Cape Town defeated two-time champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape by 76 runs to claim their first SA20 title after having finished last in the first two editions. He attributed his success to the environment of MI set up and the support everyone is getting from the coaches.

“I have been with this team for the last three years. It has always been a comfortable environment. We let ourselves down for the first two seasons but this year just seemed to be clicking a lot more,” said Rickleton.