"He told my mother, 'Pack his bags from cricket, I'll make him swim for India'" - this was Suryansh Shedge's swimming coach from his Under-14 days asking his mother not to invest their time and money in making him a cricketer not because he wasn't good enough in the sport but he was too good as a swimmer as well. "I said flat-out no because obviously, cricket is one love. But playing different sports also teaches you a lot."
Shedge, the new kid on the block for Mumbai and hopefully for the Punjab Kings, in a freewheeling chat with India TV, reckoned that playing different sports gives him an edge, not just in terms of fitness but it has shaped the person, the sportsman he is. On the heels of his first full IPL stint with the Kings, Shedge already has knocked down the right doors and made all the right noise playing for Mumbai across all formats, especially in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Shedge had an 8-ball 30, a 12-ball 36, a 1-ball 6 and finally a 15-ball 36, all unbeaten in run-chases in the last four matches in the premier domestic T20 competition, which included three knockout matches including the big final against Madhya Pradesh. These are staggering returns for any player but this is a youngster trying to find his feet in the senior team in his first full domestic season with 200-plus chases in three of those matches. Nerves of steel, iceman, are overused terms and for the 22-year-old Shedge, self-belief and preparation are key.
Approach and focus on impact and not on selection
"If you have explored everything in the practice sessions and you have self-belief, self-belief only comes when you think you're prepared. If you're prepared well enough, Sab darr, sab fear bhag jaata hai," says Shedge. He admitted that match pressure is completely different but according to him if he is practising and simulating himself for the situations that might arise during the match, he is good to go.
For the rookie all-rounder, the middle-order role for him in T20Is is a one-ball battle. "Batting is reaction and bowling is action. So how well you react, it boils down to that. And if you react well, you're batting well. So even in practice, I take one ball at a time and try to play each ball with the same intensity.
"And, when you come to the match in high-pressure situations if you're well prepared you will be confident. And that's what precisely happened.
"For me, finishing games is of utmost importance," Shedge added, whose credentials superseded just the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The hard-hitter also had a run-a-ball 71 on his Ranji Trophy debut and then an unbeaten 39-ball 76 where Mumbai were going to declare and recently a 61 against Meghalaya. "From a very young age, I've been playing like this. Even back in my under-16 days, I used to play above the 100 mark strike rate," Shedge further said but quickly remembered his learnings from his coaches growing up Abhishek Nayar, Monty Desai and Manish Bangera that the "playing style doesn't matter" but if he stayed till the end, he will end up winning more games for his side than lose.
Such clarity and confidence in his ability is envious for anyone and everyone but selection in senior teams, especially for India doesn't always depend upon the impact a player has on the game. Sometimes volume of runs and wickets is also a huge factor. It took a lot of time for the Samsons, Suryakumars and Rinku Singhs of the world to seal their place in the T20 side and Shedge too doesn't want to change the way he plays just to get on the selectors' radar. A season-best strike rate of 251.92 for anyone scoring over 100 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at an average of 43.33 while getting his team across the line in at least three-four matches is more than any team or a captain or the management could have asked for and for Shedge, he just focusses on the things he can control.
"Be in the present and just follow the process. So if I follow all these things, I'll be good off. It's okay to think along those lines [focusing on the volume of runs rather than playing small impactful knocks] but then you should know how to pull yourself back. And it has happened a lot of times with me that, I have thought about those things too.
"But, then when you go back, to the drawing board and you practice again in the nets, you realize why you started playing. It's because you love the sport and you enjoy playing. So I go out and try to bat with the same mindset, that is to enjoy the sport," the Mumbai all-rounder, who is getting ready for his maiden IPL stint, further said.
The IPL stint that wasn't
Shedge, who was picked at his base price of INR 30 Lakh by the Punjab Kings at the IPL 2025 auction, did have a tryst with the enormity of the tournament in 2023 after being signed as a replacement player by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) but didn't get to play a single game. However, spending a couple of weeks with the likes of KL Rahul, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis and current India head coach Gautam Gambhir was a learning curve for him.
"Gautam sir only told me one thing, 'learn as much as you can from this season so that you go into next season with a lot of confidence and clarity,'" said Shedge but destiny had other things planned for him. Shedge would have trained in Australia with the new LSG coach Justin Langer before he suffered a devastating stress fracture throwing the spanner in the works as he missed the entire white-ball season for Mumbai at 2023-end and at the start of 2024. Cricket mirrors life in more ways than one and Shedge learned the lesson of controlling the controllables on the field in the most extreme way.
"The love for the game and my faith in the universe and God is very strong. So I know what is in my hands that is, giving my 100 per cent whenever I step on the field. My preparation is in my hands. So that's what I focus on," Shedge said as he now gears up for a period in his life as a cricketer that could see him attain the outrageous heights he'd have seen very little of but he isn't perturbed by the magnitude of the beast that's called IPL.
Shedge will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson under Ricky Ponting but mentioned that he wouldn't be afraid to talk to them or ask questions. "If I am alongside them, I think I'm good enough. So why will I be scared?"
IPL brings the pressure of the crowds, millions watching at homes, the money and reputations riding on it but that isn't a deterrent for Shedge to be overawed with. "I think cricket is cricket wherever you're playing and that's what I've always said to myself even if I'm playing a practice match, I'll just play it with the same intensity," an assured-sounding Shedge quipped, who loves this game 'too much' to let anything get into his head.
Evolution of his relationship with Shreyas Iyer
Shedge will reunite with his Mumbai captain Shreyas Iyer at Punjab Kings. A picture of Shedge receiving the player of the tournament award in the Under-14 CPCC tournament from Iyer, who was the chief guest at the event went viral when Punjab Kings picked him at the auction, reportedly on the skipper's recommendation on Day 2. "My relationship with Shreyas bhaiya, I think has evolved over time. As a person, he is very competitive. He hates losing, and I think that's why we get along.
"He's very composed on the field, one thing I've noticed. This season also there were a couple of matches where we were hit for over 200 but he was very level-headed and he likes to lead by example. So that gives you a lot of confidence. Plus, when he talks to you, I think his persona, the way he talks, gives you a lot of confidence and clarity. So I think, that helped me during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy," Shedge added. Iyer has an IPL title and a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy trophy in his name in the same year as a captain and would hope that his reunion with Ponting is as fruitful as it was before and even better.
For Shedge, the learning will not stop even if he retires or improves and transforms into the cricketer that everyone is hoping for him to become. "I think in the last 3 years, I have taken things personally whenever I have not done well. I have analysed areas which need a bit of tweaking or needs to be worked on," Shedge mentioned. The Jaipur-born kid, who shifted to Mumbai with a twinkle in his eyes is ready for the big league and has his parents and coaches to thank. It is the start of probably a long journey and if his mindset is anything to go by, Mumbai and Punjab Kings have a promising player on their hands.