Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians are not only known for how they manage players on the field but also for their exceptional scouting system, which receives a lot of praise. It is rightly said that their scouting is the main reason behind the many IPL trophies in their cabinet. Not only do they produce players who become stars in the IPL, but names like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, who are now key players for India, also have their initial big roots from here.
Recently, Reliance Foundation chairperson and MI owner Nita Ambani shared an interesting anecdote about current MI captain Hardik Pandya and former MI player Krunal Pandya. She recalled her first meeting with these two champion players and expressed how proud she feels of Hardik Pandya’s meteoric rise. From eating Maggi noodles to now captaining MI, his journey has been incredible.
Nita Ambani on Hardik Pandya
Reliance Foundation chairperson and Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani shared how the strong scouting system has consistently worked and has surely become a nursery for cricket in India. Talking about the Pandya brothers, Mrs Ambani said
“In the IPL, we all have a fixed budget, so every team can spend a certain amount of money, and we had to think about new ways of scouting talent… I remember scouting for talent and attending every Ranji Trophy match, with my scouts and I going to all these domestic cricket matches. And one day, our scouts brought two young, lanky, thin boys to the camp,” she said. “I was talking to them, and they said that for three years, they ate nothing but Maggi noodles because they had no money.
But in them, I saw the spirit, the passion, and the hunger to make it big. Those two brothers were Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya. In 2015, I bought Hardik Pandya for 10 thousand US dollars in the auction, and today, he’s the proud captain of Mumbai Indians,” Nita Ambani added.
Hardik Pandya the leader needs to step up
A poor last season surely, but there is no question that Hardik Pandya knows how to make a comeback. He has shown it in the past, and no one can forget how he led the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022, where they came in as underdogs and emerged as champions. Yes, he failed to replicate that success for MI, but we can expect him to do well for MI in IPL 2025.
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