Not quite two weeks ago, few outside of the tiny bubble of South African domestic cricket knew the name of Tristan Stubbs, a promising 21-year-old middle order batter from the Eastern Cape who had scored 506 runs in 17 senior T20 innings.
SOUTH AFRICA TOUR OF INDIA, 2022
Nortje returns to SA T20I squad; Stubbs gets maiden call-up
Anrich Nortje, returning from an injury, has featured in just five matches so far for Delhi Capitals © Getty
That narrative changed on May 5, when Mumbai Indians named Stubbs to replace the injured Tymal Mills for the remainder of this year's IPL. A new chapter in Stubbs' fairytale was written on Tuesday when he was picked in South Africa's squad to play five T20Is in India in June.
More than half of Stubbs' career T20 runs came in less than half of his career trips to the crease during the provincial competition in February. In May, he scored 56 runs off 61 balls without being dismissed in two T20s for South Africa A against their Zimbabwe counterparts.
But Stubbs' IPL dream didn't come true this time: he was trapped plumb in front for a second-ball duck by Chennai Super Kings' Mukesh Choudhary
