Last season’s Shropshire Premier League Champions’, Wem, have signed Mumbai superstar Jay Bista, for their Birmingham and District Premier League campaign.
Mumbai young gun
Bista is an absolute run machine playing for the powerhouse that is Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. Playing alongside some superstars of the game, Bista has forged a tremendous record in his fledgling career to date.
Since his debut during the 2015/16 season, the opening batter has played over 50 matches, racked up 2,500 plus runs with 4 Ranji Trophy centuries. Whilst known for his batting, Bista has proved a useful bowler too, with 20 wickets to his name including career-best figures of 5-16 in first-class cricket.
Bista, who hails from Dhangadhi in Nepal, is the first person of Nepalese origin to play for Mumbai. He represented Mumbai through the age-groups and has made quite a name for himself in recent years. After being dropped from the Ranji Trophy squad for apparently churning out underwhelming performances, he scored century after century for Mumbai Under-23 at the Col C. K. Nayudu Trophy. His tally of 1,081 runs (at 108.10 with 5 centuries) – the highest in the tournament – propelled the team to win the prestigious trophy.
A week later, he was rightfully rewarded with a place in Mumbai’s Irani Cup squad. There, he carted Rest of India’s Jaydev Unadkat, Krishna Das, Ankit Rajpoot, Stuart Binny, and Jayant Yadav — in the presence of chief selector Sandeep Patil — to all corners of the Brabourne Stadium to conjure a 90-ball 104, inclusive of 15 fours and a six. He also scored a breezy 38 in the second innings.
Bista in full flow for Mumbai.
Bista belts England
Four days later, and at the same venue, Bista almost floored the England team with his fearless stroke play. Turning out for a Mumbai Cricket Association XI also comprising — funnily enough — four English players in James Vince, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid, and David Willey against, a strong English side, Bista scored an enterprising 51 (37 balls, 5×4, 2×6), battering the likes of Reece Topley, Chris Jordan, Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett to all parts.
Ranji run machine
The following season (2017/18), Bista enjoyed his most prolific Ranji Trophy campaign to date, scoring 2 centuries amongst 332 runs at 55.33, then followed up with 443 runs at 34.07 in 2018/19. The run machine has also impressed in the shorter formats, albeit has yet to gain the attention of IPL sides, thus enabling him to play the last two seasons abroad.
Topklasse exploits
He has been a stand-out in the Dutch Topklasse Competition for H.V. & C.V. Quick, featuring amongst the leading run-scorers in both 2018 (863 runs at 47.94) and 2019 (625 runs at 44.64) seasons respectively, not to mention his fair share of wickets.
Wem sign the Mumbai star
The hardcore Mumbaikar is quite the prospect who, after missing out on a spot for the 2020 IPL, is set to embark on his maiden UK league stint in 2020.
He has recently signed with Wem, who earned promotion to the Birmingham League for the upcoming season following their Shropshire Premiership and promotion-winning summer last season.
