At 28, Krishnan Shrijith knew time was running out. He had been part of every age-group team in Karnataka growing up, but a call-up to the senior team remained elusive. When he was finally picked for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s in 2020-21, his stay was brief.
It has taken four years for the tide to turn. In November 2024, Shrijith earned a maiden Ranji Trophy call up when he least expected it. He responded with a century on a spicy Lucknow surface where Uttar Pradesh had been bowled out for 89.
A week later, Shrijith earned a maiden IPL contract when he was signed by Mumbai Indians at the mega auction in Riyadh. Shrijith's happiness from these two milestones helped momentarily tide over a personal tragedy - the loss of his father only a few weeks prior.
"God takes away something to give you something else," he tells ESPNcricinfo. "Even though I'd earned my T20 and one-day caps when he was there, there was always a sense of pride he attached to being a first-class cricketer. I missed him when I got the Ranji cap. That's why I dedicated the hundred to him."
Early in his career, Shrijith was branded a white-ball specialist. It took him two years to change that perception - proof of which was amply on display on Ranji debut. "To be very honest, I was not expecting the Ranji call, I'd given up hopes" he says. "I was preparing for T20s one week prior to my Ranji debut. It's only when I joined the team that I started practicing with the red ball.
"When I went in to bat, I didn't want to dwell too much on changing my game. I just wanted to restrict a few shots and stick to my strengths. It was just one of those days where I just played the ball to its merit and went with a positive intent even though we had lost two wickets. I've always played my cricket like that and I will continue to play that way."
It was well-known that Shrijith had the ability to be a robust left-handed middle-order batter capable of shifting gears seamlessly. Over the past few years, his range of strokes and stillness while execution had impressed those who coached him during his younger days. It's as if they don't recognise the batter they saw in his teens.
In December, Shrijith took another big step in his evolution as an all-format player when he hit an unbeaten 101-ball 150 as Karnataka chased down a mammoth 383 against Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. It was Shrijith's maiden List-A century.
In a tight group where the difference between qualifying for the knockouts and crashing out was one win, Shrijith's clutch knock made a massive difference with Karnataka pipping Mumbai, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champions, to the knockouts. Over the coming week, Shrijith will have an opportunity to overcome a mini-slump since that century when Karnataka play the knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
It was in the aftermath of that century that Shrijith began to get noticed from the wider cricketing circles. However, his performances had already been noticed by those that matter.
Shrijith had been in the IPL reckoning even in 2024. When Devon Conway was out of the IPL with a thumb injury, Chennai Super Kings were keen on signing him as a replacement. A few weeks prior to that, Mumbai too were keen on Shrijith when they needed a replacement for the injured Vishnu Vinod. But the interest didn't translate into a call-up.
That is perhaps why when Mumbai's scouts Vinay Kumar and Rahul Sanghvi rang up Shrijith to ask him for his match video from his first outing at this year's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he didn't have his hopes high. Past experiences had taught him to be pragmatic. Shrijith had just hit a 40-ball 72 not out at No. 3 in Karnataka's chase of 216 against Uttarakhand; they fell six short.
"I've been shortlisted in the IPL auctions since 2020, but for uncapped players you don't really know when your turn comes," he says. "A couple of my trials had gone well, but I knew there's a possibility I won't be picked. It's happened before that I've done well and felt I'd get picked, only to be disappointed. So I was realistic.
"I was watching the auction initially, then switched off the TV because it kept going on and on, I didn't know if I'd even come up. And then suddenly out of the blue, my name came up and Mumbai raised the paddle. For the first 10-15 seconds I was still in shock. And then my phone started ringing.
"My first thought was dad would've loved for me to be in MI. He always joked with me that if I ever played in IPL, it should either be MI or RCB. It was also very pleasant to receive a text from Hardik Pandya [MI captain] after that. I didn't even have his number; I didn't need to. I thought it was a prank. Next day, we were playing Baroda and that's when he came up to me, gave me a hug and it all started sinking in.
Shrijith will tussle with Ryan Rickleton (overseas) and Robin Minz to find a place in the first XI as a wicketkeeper-batter for Mumbai in IPL 2025. During the trials, he was asked to bat in the top three and given numerous scenarios where he had to be their powerplay enforcer. He was specifically asked to face the new ball. Shrijith pinches himself while replaying some of those shots in his mind.
"When batters are batting well, they talk of being in a different zone. I truly understood what this meant when I batted in the trials," he says. "Growing up watching Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, I only dreamt of playing those shots. To actually execute against some quality bowlers was a different feeling."
Reflecting on the happenings of the past few months, Shrijith knows he's still got a lot of work to do and doesn't want to be carried away with all the adulation. "It's just half the job done to get here," he says. "Obviously the excitement and the happiness part are a given, like just trying to think of who I'm going to spend the summer with at the IPL. It doesn't happen often. It's just about trying to learn and get better each day."