"I walked straight onto the bus" - Former MI batter reveals stunning tale of making IPL debut a day after playing an ODI

JP Duminy has revealed that he felt intimidated while entering the Mumbai Indians (MI) team bus for the first time in his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) season in 2009. The former South African batter said that he had linked up with the squad only on the morning of the season opener at Cape Town.

Duminy revealed that he didn't attend the team meeting on the first day and entered the team bus, where he met Indian and international legends. He said on the "Biggest Man In Cricket" podcast:

“If I think back to actually being in my first IPL, which was the 2009 version in South Africa, we had just finished a South African series against Australia. The IPL started the next day after the last ODI. So, the last ODI was in Johannesburg, the next day in Cape Town was the first match, our opening game. I flew that morning, landed, and went straight to the hotel where the Mumbai Indians were staying. I actually didn’t even make it to the team meeting. I walked straight onto the bus. I remember like, this was so nerve-racking. I walked in and there was Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Jayasuriya."

"I am a 24-year-old lighty and I was saying ‘hello, hello’. It was so intimidating. I said, ‘hi, hi, hi’ and went straight to the back of the bus. Now obviously, you have the high price tag as well expectation. We won the game and I didn’t particularly perform well. The season was okay. The team didn’t do particularly well, but I thought I did relatively okay. The highest run-scorer for our team," he added.

JP Duminy emerged as MI's run-getter in the 2009 IPL, making 372 runs in 13 matches, with two fifties to his name. The team, however, endured a difficult season as they finished in seventh place on the points table.

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JP Duminy recalls spending time with cricketing legends in Mumbai Indians dressing room in IPL

Former South African batter JP Duminy said that he found it cool to be surrounded by legends of the game in the Mumbai Indians dressing room. He said that while the players competed hard on the field, they were open to having conversations once the match was over.

“What was so cool was getting to be in the same change room as these legends. Such pure gentlemen of the game. Played the game hard, but always willing to have a conversation about cricket. So, that was really cool," he said.

JP Duminy retired from all forms of international cricket after the 2019 ODI World Cup. He played 46 Tests, 199 ODIs, and 81 T20Is after making his debut in 2004.