Nita Ambani, who is the owner of the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, opened up about how the Mumbai-based franchise found talents like The Pandya brothers, Jasprit Bumrah, and Tilak Varma. According to Nita Ambani, she would attend Ranji Trophy meets for talent scouting and that was where she spotted Hardik and Bumrah, who had won several matches for Mumbai Indians in the last 10 years and played crucial roles in making the team a five-time IPL champion.
“We all work with a budget. Each team can spend X amount of money. So, we had to think of new ways to acquire talent. I mean, we couldn’t only go for the hard hitters or the big names. That’s when I thought we should nurture our new talent in Mumbai Indians,” Nita Ambani said in a video shared by ANI.
“So, I remember scouting for talent, and I would go for every Ranji Trophy match where there was just two crows sitting in the audience. And you know, my scouts and I would reach out to all these domestic cricket matches. And one day, our scouts got two young, lanky, thin boys to our camp and I started talking to them. They mentioned that they had eaten nothing but Maggi noodles for the last three years because they were out of money. Yet, in them, I saw that spirit, passion, and hunger that they wanted to make it big. Those two brothers were Hardik and Krunal Pandya.”
#WATCH | Boston, US: Reliance Foundation Founder-Chairperson Nita Ambani tells how she scouted for new talent for the Mumbai Indians team and included Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Varma in the team
— ANI (@ANI) February 17, 2025
She says, "In IPL, we all have a fixed budget, so every… pic.twitter.com/v0HriPJH8T
Though Hardik took a while, 137 matches later, he has amassed 2525 runs and 64 wickets since his debut in 2015.
His brother Krunal made his IPL debut one season later and in 127 matches has to his name 1647 runs and 76 wickets.
“The next year, a scout of ours picked up a young cricketer with different body language, and his advice was, ‘Watch him bowl!’ Well, we sat down to check his bowling, and he could talk to the ball. I was watching him with another legend, Lasith Malinga. And he said, ‘Mrs. Ambani, keep a track of him.’ That was (Jasprit) Bumrah. The rest is history! Last year, we launched Tilak Verma, and now he’s a proud member of Team India. So, I guess Mumbai Indians is rightly termed as the nursery of cricket in India,” Nita Ambani told the gathered audience.
