Nita Ambani recalls scouting Pandya brother for IPL, says for 3 years, they ate nothing but Maggi noodles

At the Harvard India Conference, Nita Ambani shared stories about how cricket entered her life, the journey of Mumbai Indians becoming a family, and the hard work of the entire franchise that has gone in making the team what it is today.

Mumbai Indian have won five IPL titles till date, and is one of the most successful teams in the league's history.

Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani lauded the scouting team that spotted the Pandya brothers and Jasprit Bumrah, and spoke about their early days.

The franchise, for years, has been providing many star cricketers playing for the Indian cricket team. From Pandya brothers to Bumrah and even Tilak Verma, who was launched this year, the players have made a mark for themselves.

Speaking about the Pandya brothers, she said, "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... 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 further added, "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."

Nita Ambani also spoke about how the team scouts came across ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah as well as Tilak Verma.

She said, "The next year, our scouts got one young cricketer with an odd body language, and they said watch him bowl. We watched him and he could just speak to the ball. That was our Bumrah and the rest is history.”

About Tilak Verma, she said, “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 added.