 "'They had eaten nothing but Maggi': How Nita Ambani and Mumbai Indians scouted Pandya brothers, Bumrah")
Mumbai Indians (MI) are often called the “nursery of Indian cricket,” having played a key role in discovering some of the biggest talents who now dominate both Indian and world cricket. Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise has nurtured star players like Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Tilak Varma, helping them rise to prominence. Pandya and Bumrah have even gone on to captain Team India on multiple occasions.
How Nita Ambani and Mumbai Indians scouted Pandya, Bumrah
Nita Ambani, chairperson of Reliance Foundation and a member of the International Olympics Committee, recently spoke about how her scouting team unearthed talents like Pandya and Bumrah at Mumbai Indians .
Ambani revealed that she personally attended domestic matches to scout talent. Through this process, they discovered the Pandya brothers, who were struggling to make ends meet at the time.
“In IPL, we all have a fixed budget, so every team can spend x amount of money, so we had to think about new ways of getting talent… that’s when I thought we should encourage new talent in Mumbai Indians. So I remember scouting for talent, and I used to go to every Ranji Trophy match and my scouts and I would go to all these domestic cricket matches. And one day, our scouts took two young, lanky, thin boys to the camp,” she said at an event in Boston.
“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.”
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“In 2015, I bought Hardik Pandya at 10 thousand US dollars in the auction, and today, he’s the proud captain of Mumbai Indians.”
Nita Ambani also shared the story of how Mumbai Indians spotted Bumrah and Tilak Varma.
“The next year, our scouts got one young cricketer with an odd body language, and they said watch him bowl. We watched him he could just speak to the ball. That was our Bumrah and the rest is history.
“Last year, we launched Tilak Varma, and now he is a proud member of Team India. So I think Mumbai Indians is rightfully called the nursery of cricket in India,” she said.
Disclaimer: Firstpost is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
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