He has played 20 T20 matches for various teams including Canterbury and Auckland in the Super Smash
Young New Zealand middle-order batter Bevon Jacobs is eyeing to play all three formats of international cricket, particularly Tests, after an “unreal” stint with Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2025. He said that he won’t be lured by deals from T20 leagues’ franchises.
Mumbai Indians had picked up Bevon Jacobs for his base price of INR 30 lakh at the IPL 2025 mega auction last year, but one thing that the 23-year-old lacked at the time was prior T20 experience. He was still a newbie to T20 cricket at the time having made his short format debut only in November 2023.
That was in a Super Smash match between Canterbury, the team he played for, and Auckland. In that match, Bevon Jacobs scored 42 runs from 20 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes.
In IPL 2025, however, Bevon Jacobs failed to get a game. However, he still got the opportunity to face Jasprit Bumrah in the nets. “The experience was pretty unreal,” Bevon Jacobs told The New Zealand Herald.
“It’s a completely different setting, a different set of challenges, and a completely different experience. You’re in the nets, and it’s a competitive environment, you’re trying to focus, but then you know [Jasprit] Bumrah’s coming in to bowl at you.
“You’re pinching yourself, he’s the best bowler in the world. Facing that is pretty surreal. [You’re thinking] ‘wow, this is awesome, this is a great opportunity to challenge myself and learn something new. In all fairness, he cleaned me up third ball – which is pretty funny. but it was awesome,” he added.
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Bevon Jacobs has played 20 T20 matches for various teams including Canterbury and Auckland in the Super Smash, as well as MI Emirates in the International League T20 (ILT20) tournament.
In the 20 matches, Jacobs has scored 423 runs at a strike-rate of 148.42, including two half-centuries. He fares even better in First-Class cricket, scoring 476 runs from nine innings at an average of 59.65. This includes three fifties and one century.
The youngster recalled his conversation with Auckland coach Rob Nicol. “All formats is something that’s really important for me. I spoke with Rob Nicol, the Auckland coach, a lot about how red ball helps my white-ball game. We worked hard on that because that’s where you get your base from.
“In the long run, I want to be a three-format player. I want that for New Zealand as well. I want to play Test cricket. Having all three definitely helps each other. I’m not a white ball specialist or anything like that. It’s cool to have been picked up by [Mumbai], and they see something with my white-ball ability, same with New Zealand in the T20 series. I want to play all three formats,” explained the right-handed batter.
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