Immaculate scouting and a close-knit dressing room have been among the factors that have propelled the Mumbai Indians to five IPL trophies. For years, the franchise has invested in players who have become big names in Indian cricket. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya started their careers at the franchise and became an undroppable part of the Indian setup across formats.
Recently, Nita Ambani, owner of the Mumbai Indians, recalled an anecdote of how she met Hardik and his brother Krunal Pandya at a preparatory camp almost a decade ago.
Hardik made his debut in 2015 for the franchise and became a vital cog in the title-winning machine of MI. Later, he captained Gujarat Titans and won the title with them in their debut season. Last year, he returned to the Mumbai Indians as a captain, replacing Rohit Sharma.
“In IPL, we all have a fixed budget, so every team can spend a certain amount of money, so we had to think about new ways of getting talent. When scouting for talent, I used to go to every Ranji Trophy match with my scouts. One day, our scouts took two young, lanky, and thing boys to the camp,” said Nita Ambani in a live chat on the CNN-News 18 YouTube channel.
She recalled that the boys told her that they hadn’t eaten anything apart from Maggi as they had no money. The boys were none other than the Pandya brothers.
“I was talking to them, and they said that for three years, they’ve eaten nothing but Maggi noodles because they’ve had no money. But in them, I saw the spirit, the passion and the hunger that they wanted to make it big. Those two brothers were Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya. In 2015, I bought Hardik Pandya at 10 thousand US dollars in the auction, and today, he’s the proud captain of Mumbai Indians,” she said.
Bumrah would only talk to the ball
Recalling an anecdote about India’s premier pacer and one of the best bowlers in the world, Jasprit Bumrah, Nita Ambani said that in his early days, he would just talk to the ball.
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“Our scouts got a very young cricket with an odd body language and bowling action. We saw him bowl in the nets and it looked like he could just speak to the ball. That was Bumrah, and the rest is history,” said Nita Ambani.
In 2013, a young Bumrah rattled AB de Villiers’ stumps for MI against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, giving him a send-off. The bowler from Gujarat would go on to become an integral part of the Indian bowling setup and eventually one of the best contemporaries bowlers in the world.
