Mumbai Indians (MI) has been the most successful IPL franchise so far. The Rohit Sharma led side was in a neck to neck contest with CSK at the end of IPL 2018, with both the teams getting their hands to the IPL trophy thrice. However, by winning the next two seasons of the world’s most coveted league, back to back, Mumbai Indians proved their supremacy over all the other teams.
What played a vital role in their success was the pool of talented youngsters they had created. This was the aspect where ‘Daddys’ Army’ Chennai Super Kings clearly lagged behind. This is a contrary situation to the first half of the league. At that point, nearly all Indian players of CSK XI featured in the Indian national team regularly, whereas MI were the ones with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollack in their mid-30s.
A whole bunch of Mumbai Indians players now feature in the Indian side courtesy of their solid performance in the IPL and on India A tours. Let’s have a look at 6 players from the current MI squad who represent India in the international circuit.
Honorable Mention : Rahul Chahar
1. Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma, the MI skipper and a household name now, has been part of Mumbai Indians since IPL 2011. Having made his debut for India 4 years prior to being part of MI, Rohit was erratic in his performance with the bat on the international circuit.
However, when promoted to captain the MI squad in 2013, the fortunes changed for both MI and the skipper. He since then has featured regularly in limited formats for India, hitting 3 ODI double tons and 4 T20 centuries in the process.
2. Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah was an unknown name before he made a remarkable ODI debut for the struggling Indian team on the Australia tour in 2016. Before that, he was part of Mumbai Indians since 2013 and did a good job alongside Lasith Malinga.
Came as an injury replacement to one of the pacers in the squad, Bumrah made an immediate impact on world cricket and never looked back. Becoming the number one ranked bowler in ODIs in the process, Jasprit has featured constantly in all three formats for the Indian team.
3. Hardik Pandya
Another Mumbai Indians’ product Hardik got the limelight after his blitzkrieg knock against Chennai Super Kings in his very early days. He followed the knock with few more cameos later and eventually got the call from the national side for the 3 T20Is series vs Australia, down under in 2016.
Hardik did show glimpses of his potential with bat and ball on the tour and was picked for the subsequent Asia Cup and World T20. His good performance in these tournaments and Champions trophy meant he was now a regular member of the Indian team across formats.
4. Krunal Pandya
Elder of the Pandya brothers, Krunal played a vital role in the 2017 title victory for Mumbai Indians. He has been a consistent performer for Mumbai and does a decent job with his left-arm spin, apart from the swashbuckling cameos at the fag end. He too got his national call-up on an Australian tour albeit two years later than his brother Hardik. He won a few man of the match awards for the national side and now is part of the ODI squad as well.
5. Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar used to bat down the order for KKR in his first few IPL seasons until he was given the responsibility at the top by the MI think-tank after they bought the stylish batter in the 2018 mega auction. After three consecutively successful IPL seasons, Surya was given a national call-in the recently concluded T20I series vs England.
After grabbing the limited opportunities he got during ye series with both the hands, the dynamic MI batsman got into the ODI side as well. Surya is set to be given a long rope, and we may see him featuring in the side consistently.
6. Ishan Kishan
While the Indian team kept on experimenting with Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Sanju Samson as the replacement for the veteran wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the one name that got ignored was the man from MSD’s state, Ishan Kishan.
Kishan had a stellar show in the under 19 World Cup and was a consistent performer for Jharkhand, but it was only after his stunning show for Mumbai Indians in the last IPL in Dubai, his performance got noticed. Kishan got the call-up for the England T20Is and scored a 28 ball fifty on debut. Considering the talent the southpaw has got in himself, he seems to be a horse for the long run.
