“I was in Indore playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. My number was 281 on the auction list. By the time my name came, all teams had more or less made up their squads and I had lost hope of getting picked. But still, I had just that one percent chance that it could go my way. That was the only thing that was lingering on in my head and I was holding onto that.”

Watching an IPL auction for a player is already stressful. A mega auction at the fag end of the second day, if you happen to fall in the uncapped, never-picked-before category, with most teams having already exhausted their purse, is simply nerve-wracking. Shrijith Krishnan was going through one such ordeal. Don’t worry, the ending is a happy one.

“When my name came on TV and the second MI went for me, I was literally in shock for a minute,” he says in an exclusive chat with mumbaiindians.com.

Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Vinay Kumar, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Abhimanyu Mithun, J Suchith, it’s a long list of Karnataka players donning the Blue and Gold that Shrijith is set make longer. It’s a proud legacy this wicketkeeper-batter is now set to be part of, and he’s already been getting advice.

“That’s an amazing list to be a part of. I take huge pride in playing for the MI franchise. It’s an amazing franchise, five time champions. Every kid wants to be a part of it,” he says.

“The only thing I have heard from all Karnataka players who’ve part of MI in the past is that I have literally ended up with the best franchise in the IPL. Something I’ve heard and seen is how they treat players like family, that brings out the best in the players.”

Shrijith’s is a very heartwarming story. His father’s passion for the game was what pushed young Shrijith to take it up as a profession. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t be around to watch his son get picked up by his favourite franchise. Shrijith is sure he’d be smiling somewhere. 

“My father was a very big fan of Sachin sir,” he says. “He would have been really proud that I have been picked up by Mumbai Indians. My dad never played cricket. It was just out of love and passion for cricket that he let me pursue the game. He would be really, really proud.”

It indeed is a proud moment for the Bengaluru household. His is a story of never losing hope, through four years of attending trials with different IPL teams, to being the standout batter for the Hubli Tigers at the Maharaja T20 league this year, to scoring a century on his long-awaited Ranji debut, to landing an IPL contract in the dying hours of the auction at the age of 28.

The real deal is set to unfold in April-May.

Welcome to Mumbai Indians, Shrijith!