2024 – Tristan Luus comes into the South Africa under-19 World Cup squad as an injury replacement 2025 – Tristan Luus can boast of a winner’s medal in the SA20 and the MLC He’s quick. He’s nippy. He’s barely 20. “This last year has been a rollercoaster of a year. It started with the SA20 and me winning the SA20 as a rookie was an unbelievable way to start the year. I’m glad I made my debut for both MI Cape Town and MI New York. Winning the MLC then was like a dream coming through. My cricket is in a really good space right now,” he said in an exclusive chat with minycricket.com.At MI New York, he was on a mission. Having been drafted into the XI with the team in a must-win situation, Tristan had his task cut out. And he couldn’t wait. “I was more excited than nervous (at MI New York), I’ll be honest. I couldn’t wait. I was just in the corner and I was like, ‘I wanna play, I just wanna play’. The day I got to know I was going to play, I was super stoked. I was so excited to play. Thank goodness the coaches saw I could do something in this team.,” he said. And the rewards on the investment were instantaneous. Against Texas Super Kings in the all-important second Qualifier, he ripped through their batting order in a spell of 3/35, which included the wicket of his fellow country great, Faf du Plessis. “There was a lot of planning going into that game,” he said. “We knew it was a must-win game. I was really focused on that game. Emotionally I was locked in. I really played well and I was grateful to just contribute to the team and get wickets.”At 20, every conversation, every interaction, every match is a learning. And with the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Quinton de Kock to rub shoulders with right in the middle of all the action (must-win territory, mind you!), trust it to be a steep education in the youngster’s cricketing journey. “Every game I played under games like Boulty or Nicky P or Pollard, with players who are legends of the game, I almost feel calmer in match situations. They talk to me when something is going on. What I learnt in that game wasn’t necessarily skill wise, it was being calm in certain situations of the game. Just advice like, ‘you are only one good ball away’. I think I control my emotions a lot better because the guys around me helped me with it.”Tristan, we’ve loved every moment of you in the Blue and Gold. 

Three Championship titles in 2025, 13 Championship titles overall. The Gold in Mumbai Indians’ Blue continues glittering through. The most successful T20 franchise in the world capped off a super successful year after all five teams in the Mumbai Indians family made it to the playoffs, with three of them going on to bring home the winning trophy. The Rashid Khan-led MI Cape Town, after failing to qualify for the playoffs in the first two seasons, kicked the year off with an emphatic title-winning season at the SA20. Harmanpreet Kaur and her girls followed it up with a brilliant run at the Women’s Premier League, winning a thrilling final. Nicholas Pooran’s MI New York capped off a top year, turning around a slow start to the MLC into an inspirational come-from-behind victory. “Congratulations, MI New York. This is more than a victory, it’s a celebration of what sport truly stands for. MI New York’s second MLC title in three years marks another iconic chapter in the growing global story of Mumbai Indians. From Mumbai to New York, Cape Town to Abu Dhabi – five teams across three continents, including our women’s team in Mumbai – we are building more than just cricket teams. We are shaping a global brand powered by passion, excellence, and the unifying spirit of sport. Because at Mumbai Indians, we don’t just play to win. We play with heart. We play as one,” said Mrs. Nita M. Ambani. “To our incredible fans across the world – this victory is yours. Thank you for being the soul of #OneFamily.”

You know you’ve pulled off a heist when you’ve managed to defend 12 off the final over of a T20. The heist becomes even more epic when it happens to be with Glenn Maxwell and Glenn Phillips at the crease. The epic becomes legendary when the context is that of a League Final. This is Rushil Ugarkar, the 22-year-old right-arm pacer. He’s uncapped in the international scene. But that’s not stopping him from wanting to bowl the tough overs. That’s not stopping him from stepping up and grabbing the role of MI New York’s designated death overs specialist in the 2025 season of the MLC. Hardened in the Mumbai Indians camp as a support player during IPL 2025, Ugarkar found the slingy wings of the master, Lasith Malinga, the team’s Bowling Coach, who was also MINY’s Bowling Coach in 2024. “I spent a lot of time with Malinga in the previous year as well. We worked a lot on my death bowling. Being in situations which are high pressure, doing those sessions paid off today,” he says in a chat with MINY after his incredible heist of nailing the 20th over to get MINY over the line in the MLC Final. “I noticed couple of things in his training routines. Every time he goes to a net session before a game, he kind of manifests how he’s going to bowl to each player and how he’s going to get them out. That’s something I wanted to add to my game as well. Before every game at the practice sessions, I would do that as well,” he added.Rushil had a pretty tough initiation to the MLC this year. He bowled the 19th over against the Washington Freedom in the league stage, defending 17 off 12, and was at the receiving end of Mark Chapman’s back-to-back boundaries that saw the match go past MINY’s reach. He impressed immediately in the following game against the Seattle Orcas, where he managed to keep Shimron Hetmyer quiet, conceding just three runs in the 17th over, and a miserly 29 runs in his four overs.It was the game against the Texas Super Kings where he faced his sternest test. Donovan Ferreira smashed him for a couple of sixes off the first two balls of the last over of the innings. Rushil, in trying to get defensive, went wide outside off, but in the process, went way past the tramline five balls in a row. To come back from that and produce a gem of a final over in the Final tells you about his character. You need some serious nerves of steel. “The entire squad has been really supportive,” Rushil said. “They have backed me all through. Even after getting hit, they kept me in the team and just kept giving me confidence and telling me ‘you got this, keep giving your 100% every ball’.”The redemption arc is complete. A star is unearthed. Rushil is here to stay. And conquer!