When all other teams were busy filling up their squads at the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction on Monday (November 25), Mumbai Indians quietly made a smart pick and were also happy to have picked that player for his base price of Rs 30 lakh. The concerned player, Bevon Jacobs, was asleep in New Zealand at the time with his cricket career taking a massive turn in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He woke up on Tuesday morning with a lot phone calls and messages as people back in India wondered who is the player that the five-time champions bid on. Here's more about him...
Jacobs, only at the age of 22, has made a name for himself as the middle-order hitter in the shortest format. He was one of the star players in the Super Smash 2023-24 season, the premium T20 tournament in New Zealand. He donned the role of a finisher for the Canterbury Kings to smash 134 runs in six innings at an impeccable strike rate of 188.73. His T20 experience is very limited but the man has a 40-ball century to his name in the Queensland T20 Max tournament played in Australia.
Watch the video of his century here
He played for South Brisbane in the competition and smashed the quickfire ton against Toombull. Interestingly, Mumbai Indians' scouting team includes former New Zealand captain John Wright and it seems that he identified Jacbos as a potential finisher in IPL. "I guess there was a little bit of media around that tournament [Queensland T20 Max] and I happened to get some runs at the end which was nice.
"I played with an awesome club and a good bunch of lads there got around me and I guess it was my kind of my first experience overseas playing as an overseas player. So, I guess that might help in a sense a bit of familiarity going over there but yeah obviously it [the IPL] is a bit of a step above but I'll do what I can," Jacobs said according to ESPNCricinfo after being picked by MI in IPL.
As far as his career is concerned, Jacobs has also featured in a couple of first-class matches making his debut earlier this month for Auckland. He has scored 199 runs so far with scores of 75 and 79 in his first red-ball game. However, his game in List A doesn't seem to be up to the mark as of now having mustered only 130 runs in nine innings at an average of 18.57 with the best score of 35.
Having received an IPL contract now, Jacobs will rub shoulders with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav among many stars at MI. Moreover, he will also share the dressing room with his country mates Mitchell Santner and Trent Boult during IPL 2025.
