A left-handed batter, a left-arm finger spinner, a middle-order enforcer and a lower-order finisher. All of these traits associated with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Another prodigy, who is looking to walk on the path of these two, is Nishant Sindhu. The 22-year-old Sindhu, who is a Gujarat Titans all-rounder and an U19 World Cup winner from 2022, harbours the dream of playing for India and winning top ICC events – the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship.
The rising youngster has impressed several heads with his all-round performances in recent years. Batting in the middle-order, he had two consecutive Ranji Trophy seasons – in 2022/23 and 2023/24 – where he scored more than 400 runs for Haryana and was among the top three run-scorers for them both these times. He has been highly effective with the ball, too, picking up 15 or more wickets in three consecutive seasons. He was Haryana’s leading wicket-taker in the 2022-23 season.
The U19 World Cup win and the crunch final knock
Sindhu was part of the U19 World Cup-winning team in 2022. Not just that, he scored a crucial fifty in the final against England when India were in a bit of trouble in the 190-run chase after being at 97/4 and losing captain Yash Dhull and Shaik Rasheed in quick succession. Along with a 67-run stand for the fifth wicket with Raj Bawa, Sindhu slammed an unbeaten 50 from 54 balls on the biggest stages of them all to take India to the U19 title. Nishant points out that day as the biggest moment.ย
“The performance in the U19 World Cup final was very important for me. I was getting starts in that tournament, but was not able to make the most of them. It was the best moment (the fifty in the final), to win the World Cup for the team in that situation,” Sindhu says in an exclusive interaction with India TV.
The leadership that came naturally to him
While some may remember him for his half century in the final, not many would know that he also captained the Indian team in that tournament. With Yash Dhull and Shaik Rasheed in isolation, he led India in two matches against Ireland and Uganda.ย
Leadership came naturally to him, he says. He led the Haryana U-16 team to the 2018-19 Vijay Merchant Trophy title and then the Haryana U19 team to the Vinoo Mankad Trophy in 2021-22. “Captaincy came naturally to me in the club level cricket when I used to lead my team. I learnt what to do in certain situations, how to handle things. So that helped me when I did captaincy in the Vijay Merchant Trophy and the Vinoo Mankad Trophy,” he said.
Sharing the stage with MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja a dream: Sindhu
Looking at his performances in the domestic circuit and in the U19 World Cup, Sindhu was picked by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the IPL 2023 for Rs 60 lakh after winning the bidding war against Kolkata Knight Riders. While he did not get to play a game, he got invaluable experience of sharing the dressing room with the likes of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja. He says that it was a dream for him.
“It was also a dream. I used to idolise Jaddu bhai (Jadeja) always, and Mahi bhai (Dhoni) too. It was so good to share the dressing room with them,” he said. He did detail a bit on what he picked from Jadeja, whom he looks up to in the same role.ย
“There are a lot of things,” he said when asked what he learned from Jadeja. “Like in bowling, he told me what the plan could be against a particular batsman. So, I try to follow that in my game.ย
“I have added variations and angles (after that). He (Jadeja) told me what is important in T20 cricket, especially in a league like the IPL, where several international big guns play. So tactics are important against them, and I learnt them from him,” he added.
The time with Gujarat Titans
Sindhu is now with the GT, having been picked up by them ahead of the 2025 auction and retained ahead of the 2026 season for Rs 30 lakh. The 22-year-old has been watching closely how things are unfolding on the ground, visualising what he would do when in the same situation. On what the GT management and captain Shubman Gill talk to him, he said, “They talk about match situations. What would I do when in those positions? This will help me in my game.”
He has Rahul Tewatia, his Haryana teammate, in the GT squad, who helped him gel well with the squad. “Rahul bhaiya (Tewatia) has been with me in the domestic as well. So he helped me a lot in IPL too. I was nervous last year (in 2025). He made me feel comfortable, made me gel in. He told me you can reach out to anyone, whether it be Gill or Ashish Nehra,” he said.
The World Cup dream that drives him on
And what are his future goals? An ODI World Cup for India and a World Test Championship trophy. He wants to play in all three formats, but wants to succeed a bit more in the Test and ODI formats, which indicates his love for the longer formats.ย
“I want to play all three formats for India. A bit more (preference) for the red ball format. I want to win the ODI World Cup and the Test Championship for India. I learn from the likes of Jadeja and Axar. How they bat and how they handle the pressure,” he concludes. One day, the day might come. He has stars in his eyes and maybe a World Cup and a WTC title someday in his hands.
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