Pradeep Sangwan wanted the number 18 jersey before the U-19 World Cup

Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) is the most successful team in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) with three titles to their name. Following them, CSK and KKR have won two titles each. They have groomed many youngsters in their journey and given them the platform to express themselves. This year, Mayank Markande, who has performed very well, is one such example.

The scouting system of Mumbai Indians is pretty impressive as they have honed some really brilliant domestic talent over the years.

The likes of Saurabh Tiwary, Pradeep Sangwan and MD Nidheesh who are a part of the franchise are doing well in the domestic cricket. Recently, they spoke to MI TV and revealed the reasons behind their jersey numbers.

“My father was the 15th child born in the family and it is the same for me as well as I am also the 15th child in my family. And if you see, all my debut games for India or for the state, they were all on 15th,” said Saurabh Tiwary. MD Nidheesh has the number 68 on his jersey because he likes the number 6 and 8.

“Before the U-19 World Cup, I had picked number 18 as my jersey number. But skipper Virat Kohli took that number for the tournament and since then, he has been using it. But my mother had suggested the number 18 to me and since then, I have been using this particular number,” said Pradeep Sangwan.

In the current season, MI started their campaign very poorly as they lost consecutive matches and found themselves at the bottom of the points table.

However, that  has been the ‘MI way’ in the IPL for the past few seasons, where in they lose a few games up top and then make a late surge for that playoff spots.

MI is all set to face Delhi Daredevils (DD) in their next encounter on Sunday (20th May). It will be a do or die match for them. A lot of more will depend upon the result of the match RCB vs RR. Net Run Rate (NRR) will play a major role for all the teams but MI not need to worry about it as they have the best NRR among all the teams.

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Utkarsh Bhatla