Yadav started playing club cricket inMumbai before he was selected for the Mumbai cricket team. He made hisList A debut for Mumbai in February 2010 before making hisfirst-class andT20 debut in the same year. In March 2021, he made his T20I debut and later made hisODI debut in July of the same year. He has mainly playedlimited-overs cricket for India, having played his onlyTest match in February 2023. He was named as the captain of the Indian team for first time in November 2023 and was re-appointed as the captain of the Indian T20I team in July 2024 after the previous captainRohit Sharma announced his retirement from T20Is.
As of August 2024, Yadav has scored more than 3,000 runs in international cricket with fourcenturies. More than 75% of his career runs and all of his centuries have come from T20I matches. His four T20I centuries are the second most by any male batter. He held the top ranking in theICC men's player rankings for T20Is from October 2022 to June 2024. He won theICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year award in2022 and2023, and was also named in theICC Men's T20I Team of the Year in 2022 and 2023.
Yadav plays forMumbai in the Indian domestic cricket, which he has captained in the past. He has played forKolkata Knight Riders andMumbai Indians in theIndian Premier League (IPL), winning one title with Kolkata in 2014 and two with Mumbai, in 2019 and 2020.
Yadav was born inBombay (now Mumbai),Maharashtra, on 14 September 1990.[1] His parents were fromGhazipur inUttar Pradesh.[2] He did his schooling atAtomic Energy Central School in Mumbai and graduated with aB.Com from Pillai College in Mumbai.[3][4] He started playing cricket under the guidance of his paternal uncle Vinod Kumar Yadav inVaranasi. At the age of 10, he was enrolled in a cricket camp atBARC colony in Mumbai, coached by Ashok Kamat.[5] He then went to Elf Vengsarkar Academy, run by former international cricketerDilip Vengsarkar, and played age-group cricket in Mumbai.[6]
On 7 July 2016, Yadav married Devisha Shetty, whom he first met in 2010 at a college program. Shetty is a trained dancer and a dance coach.[7]
Yadav captained the Mumbai team for a brief period during the2014–15 Ranji Trophy season, before he was replaced midway into the tournament.[12] He scored 690 runs across ten matches in the tournament.[13] He was part of the Mumbai squad that won the2015–16 Ranji Trophy.[14] He was amongst the top five run-getters in the season with 788 runs and scored three centuries including a score of 115 in the second innings of the semifinal match againstMadhya Pradesh.[15][16] The Mumbai team consisting of Yadav reached the second consecutive Ranji final in2016–17 but lost toGujarat.[17] He scored more than 600 runs for the third consecutive season with a highest score of 110 runs.[18]
Yadav scored 241 runs with an average of over 40 in the2018–19 Vijay Hazare TrophyList A cricket tournament, which was won by Mumbai.[19][20] In October 2019, he was named in theIndia C squad for the2019–20 Deodhar Trophy.[21] He was again appointed as captain of the Mumbai team for the2019-20 season, but Mumbai failed to make it out of the group stage in the tournament.[22][23] He also captained the team in the2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali TrophyT20 tournament.[24][25] His team fared poorly finishing bottom of theGroup E with just one win in five matches.[26] Along with his commitments with the Mumbai team, he continued to play club cricket for Parsi Gymkhana. He scored 249 runs in the final against Payyade Sports Club in the Police Shield tournament in 2021, winning the "Best Batsman of the Final" award, and helped the club to win the tournament for the first time since 1956.[9][27]
In February 2021, Yadav was named in theIndianTwenty20 International (T20I) squad for thehome series againstEngland.[28] He made his T20I debut on 14 March 2021 in the second match of the series atAhmedabad but did not get a chance to bat.[29] In the fourth game of the series held on 18 March, he played his first innings as a batter and hit the first ball he faced in international cricket for a six, becoming the first Indian to do so in T20Is.[30] He went on to score ahalf-century in the match, and his performance in the game was praised by then–Indian captainVirat Kohli.[31][32] He was named in IndianOne Day International (ODI) squad for the subsequent series against England but did not play any matches.[33][34] In June 2021, he was part of the Indianlimited-overs squads for theaway series againstSri Lanka.[35] He made his ODI debut on 18 July 2021 in the first match of the series atColombo.[36] On 20 July 2021, he scored his maiden ODI half-century against Sri Lanka.[37]
In July 2021, Yadav was called up as a replacement player to the IndianTest squad for theaway series against England, but did not play a match.[38] In September 2021, he was selected in the Indian squad for the2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[39] He scored just 31 runs across three matches in the World Cup, in which India was eliminated from the group stage.[40][41] In November 2021, he was named in the Indian Test squad for theirhome series againstNew Zealand but was not selected in the playing XI for any of the games.[42] He played three T20Is against New Zealand, scoring 63 runs across three innings including a half-century and aduck.[40] He was part of both the limited overs squads for thehome series againstWest Indies in February 2022 and made a comeback to the ODI team in the series.[34]
In June 2022, Yadav part of the Indian squad for theT20I series againstIreland and the subsequenttour of England.[43] In July 2022, he scored his first T20I century against England atTrent Bridge, scoring 117 off 55 balls.[44] He became only the fifth Indian player to score a century in T20Is and only the second to reach the mark battingfourth or lower.[45] In August 2022, he played in the2022 Asia Cup T20I competition and scored 139 runs across five innings.[46] Later, he was part of the T20I home series againstAustralia andSouth Africa.[40] In October 2022, he became the fastest to score 1,000 runs in T20Is in terms of balls faced, reaching the mark in 573 balls in the series againstSouth Africa.[47][48] On 30 October 2022, he achieved the top rank in theICC men's player rankings for T20I batsmen for the first time in his career.[49][50]
In January 2023, he scored the second fastest century by an Indian batter in T20Is and the third of his career, reaching the mark in 45 ballsagainst Sri Lanka atRajkot.[59][60] He played in both the ODI and T20I series against thetouring New Zealand side in January–February 2023 and scored 142 runs across five innings.[40][34] In January 2023, he achieved 910 rating points, the second-best in the history of men's T20I rankings and was named as the captain of the ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year for 2022.[61][62]
On 9 February 2023, Yadav made his Test debutagainst Australia atNagpur, which has been his only Test appearance as of August 2024.[63] In the subsequent ODI series, he registered his third consecutivegolden duck in the third match of the series atChennai, becoming the first Indian batter to do so.[64] In August 2023, he was appointed as the vice-captain of the Indian team for theT20I series against West Indies.[65] He scored 166 runs across four innings including 83 runs off 44 balls in the third match of the series.[40][66] He was part of the Indian squad that won the2023 Asia Cup but played only one game in the series in the loss toBangladesh.[67][68][69] Later, he was named in the Indian squad for the2023 Cricket World Cup held in India.[70] He scored just 106 runs across seven innings in the World Cup, in which India finished as therunners-up.[71][72] After the World Cup, he was named as the captain of the Indian team for thehome T20I series against Australia.[73][74] He scored 144 runs in five innings and led the team to a 4–1 series victory.[40][75] He was also named as captain for the subsequentIndian tour of South Africa.[76] In the series, he scored the fourth T20I century of his career, equaling Rohit Sharma andGlenn Maxwell for the record of most centuries in T20Is (which has since been surpassed by both Sharma and Maxwell).[77][78] He won the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year award for the second consecutive year in2023.[79]
In May 2024, Yadav was named in the Indian squad for the2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament.[80] In the Super 8 match againstAfghanistan, he was named Player of the Match in the tournament for his score of 53 runs from 28 balls.[81] In thefinal against South Africa, he took a catch close to the boundary line in the final over of the South African innings todismissDavid Miller.[82] India went on to win the match by seven runs to lift their second T20 World Cup; they had last won the inaugural edition in 2007.[83] Cricket commentatorIan Smith referred to the catch as being "one of the greatest" in the history of the game.[84][85] In June 2024, he dropped to second in the ICC T20I player rankings, after being overtaken by AustralianTravis Head.[86] He captained the Indian team that toured Sri Lanka for a three-match T20 series played atPallekele in late July, which India won 3–0.[87][88]
In2018 IPL auction, he was bought back by the Mumbai Indians for a price of₹32 million (US$370,000).[94] He was a prolific run-scorer for Mumbai, scoring more than 1400 runs across three seasons, and won the title with the team in the2019 and2020 seasons.[90][93] He was retained by the franchise ahead of the2022 auction for₹80 million (US$920,000).[95] He missed the start of the2022 season due to injury and, on his return, scored 303 runs in eight matches at an average of more than 43. His 2022 season ended after suffering a muscle injury in a May 6 match againstGujarat Titans.[90][96]
Yadav was appointed as thevice-captain of the side for the2023 season and captained the side in a match against his old side KKR after Rohit missed it due to injury.[97] In the 2023 season, he had his best ever IPL season with the bat, scoring 605 runs in 16 matches including his maiden IPL century against Gujarat Titans on 12 May.[90][98] He missed the first few matches of the2024 IPL season as he was recovering from injury.[99][100] He played 11 games in the season and scored 345 runs including his second IPL century against theSunrisers Hyderabad.[101]
Yadav is a hard-hittingmiddle-order batter. He has a tendency to go all-out from the first ball, rather than take time to settle at thecrease. He plays a wide range of shots and all around the ground on bothoff andleg sides.[8] He uses his wrists to play shots around the ground and is often called Mr. 360 for his range of shots includingscoops overfine leg.[102]
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England
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
South Africa
