Playing alongside Rohit, Bumrah in IPL will be great learning curve for me: Rickelton

Johannesburg, Feb 9: 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.
“Going into season 2 was a bit of a change technically and mentally but this year I had a bit more experience and probably more expectations. I just kept more calm at the crease and tried to make the right decisions at the right time. Sticking to the options was the key,” he added.
“Coming from a good summer also helped. I am just trying to keep it as simple as possible and put the opposition under pressure with Rassi (Van der Dussen).” Rickleton is full of praise for the unsung hero of the team, bowling coach and former New Zealand cricketer Mitchell McClenaghan .
“MI management has been phenomenal this year. Especially Mitch who is heavily under noticed but the stuff he is doing behind the scene, the plans, the amount of cricket he watches. The way he pays attention to bowler’s strength and batters’ weaknesses, he is a proper student of the game. Probably he was like that when he used to play as well,” he said.
“Obviously words come from Robbie (head coach Peterson) as well. The environment has been very relaxed and they are not only pushing us in the right direction but also giving us incredibly good tools to use,” he added. He is also impressed with the current crop of young South African players like Lhuan dre Pretorious, Kwen Mphaka, Jordan Hernann.
“We have got a lot of talented cricketers in South Africa and we were begging for a tournament like this just to expose those young cricketers. All guys are also putting their hands up showing that this is a kind of platform where things can change for us,” he said.
“Coupled with the opportunity to learn from the overseas players and overseas coaches and different environments has really made a few of us take their game to the next level”.