Sunil Gavaskar hails Mumbai for nurturing key players for Team India, gets mixed reactions

Sunil Gavaskar has lauded the Mumbai Indians (MI) for their remarkable contribution to Indian cricket. He believes that MI’s impact goes far beyond their five IPL titles, highlighting how the franchise has produced several key players who went on to shine at the national level.

Speaking during the post-match show on Star Sports after the IPL 2025 opener, Gavaskar pointed out that MI gave India stars like Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and the Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal.

The Mumbai cricket legend especially praised Krunal Pandya, who played a crucial role in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s win over Kolkata Knight Riders. Krunal took 3 wickets for 29 runs, dismissing important batters Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh on a flat pitch.

Gavaskar called him a smart and intelligent cricketer. Mumbai’s setup, including mentorship from icons like Sachin Tendulkar, has helped shape several Indian stars, he added.

“I’m not sure whether he (Chahal) played any game for Mumbai. You could see Chahal sitting next to Sachin Tendulkar when Sachin was still playing for Mumbai Indians,” Little Master said.

“They (Mumbai Indians) contributed so much more apart from winning five titles and being in the finals a couple more times,” he added.

Mixed reactions from netizens

Social media users added more names to Gavaskar’s list of players who have made India proud. Kuldeep Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Ishan Kishan are a few of those names.

Some users also hailed Rohit Sharma for nurturing young talents for Team India.

Some, however, called it “Mumbai lobby” instead of Mumbai’s contribution.

“When Indian captains play for the franchise, their team players play for the Indian team mostly. For example: when Dhoni was the Indian captain, Raina, Ashwin, Jadeja, Vijay, Bradinadh, Kedar Jadhav, Balaji, Nehra” came from another user.

“Dhruv Jurel, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Ravinda Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, all from RR,” pointed out another user.

Mumbai will take on Chennai on March 23. The CSK vs MI encounter will start at 7:30 PM.

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