The most lucrative cricket tournament in club cricket, the Indian Premier League is back for the seventh edition. For all the teams, they start this year’s tournament on a clean slate with some having retained a few players and focusing on assembling a great squad. Among the teams in the limelight, the Mumbai Indians camp got a lot of attention. Owned by the richest man in India, MukeshAmbani, the team has embarked upon an interesting strategy. Many experienced players such as Zaheer Khan, Mike Hussey and PragyanOhja were drafted in along with promising young players.
Commenting on the team’s strategy, Nita Ambani, co-owner of Mumbai Indians said, “Mumbai Indians has banked on domestic talent. If you remember, in IPL 3, ShikharDhawan, AjinkyaRahane and AmbatiRayadu were our domestic players; they all play for Team India now. Also, the purpose of the IPL is to find these domestic players and make them play. So we would probably look for domestic players.”
At the auction though, a lot of attention was focused on a dashing looking Akash Ambani. The elder son of Mukesh& Nita Ambani has just returned from completing his undergraduate studies at Brown University. The Ivy League graduate is now taking a keen interest in the business side of things ar Reliance Industries Limited and his involvement with the Mumbai Indians signals exactly that. Although, most viewers of the IPL will keenly identify his brother Anant as ever-present during many successful seasons for the Mumbai Indians, Akash is no stranger to the game. In fact, Akash has played cricket for his school, DhirubhaiAmbani International School. He has a keen interest in sports and the decision to have a strategic influence in the affairs of Mumbai Indians is natural considering his business as well as personal interests.
Some of the most impressive buys from Mumbai’s perspectives include star New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson and the return of the mercurial Zaheer Khan. Nita Ambani was ecstatic about the signing of Corey Anderson in Particular. “Yes actually, in our team combination we were looking at either a Maxwell or a Corey. We were really disappointed that we lost on Maxwell. But now we are so happy to have Corey – he will give us our middle overs, he can bat and he’s a genuine all-rounder,” she said.
She also claimed that Sachin Tendulkar was still close to the team. “He has always been part of the Mumbai Indians family. Last two days he’s been wishing me luck, recommending some players names, so he’s an integral part of Mumbai Indians,” said Mrs. Ambani.