Thursday, February 21, 2013
| News from the Camp
MI Media Release
Mumbai, February 21, 2013
Mumbai Indians appoints Ricky Ponting as Captain
Ricky brings in fresh perspective: Nita Ambani
Mumbai Indians, in consultation with its newly appointed Chief Mentor Anil Kumble, Head Coach John Wright along with icon player Sachin Tendulkar, today announced the appointment of Ricky Ponting as the teams’ new Captain.
The former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was awarded to Mumbai Indians at the recently held auction in Chennai. Ricky Ponting will lead the experienced Mumbai Indians side for the IPL 2013.
Commenting on the decision, Chief Mentor Anil Kumble said, “Ricky has a lot of experience to lead a competitive and a high-profile side like Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Sachin readily agreed to my suggestion that Mumbai Indians is best served when he leads the batting unburdened by the rigours of captaincy. It was our idea (Sachin and mine) to bring in Ricky as the captain of the Mumbai Indians.”
Ricky Ponting, on his new role in the team, said, “It’s a huge honor and I thank Mrs Ambani and the Mumbai Indians management for the faith they have reposed in my abilities. Mumbai Indians has the potent combination of Indian and International cricketers and I look forward to leading the team to play to its full potential.”
Nita Ambani of Mumbai Indians said, “On behalf of the Mumbai Indians family, I welcome Ricky Ponting to the team as the leader of the side. Today we have world’s two biggest cricketing greats in Sachin and Ricky, and I am sure the duo will be an inspiration for the youngsters in the team. Sachin will always be an integral and important part of Mumbai Indians’ leadership. Ricky will bring in fresh perspective in the team leadership and will have the support of the best cricketing minds like Sachin, Anil and John Wright.”
Mumbai Indians will start their IPL 2013 campaign on April 4 in Bangalore.
About Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians is the Mumbai-based IPL franchise owned by IndiaWin Sports Pvt. Ltd, a group company of Reliance Industries Ltd. Mumbai Indians has had a phenomenal rise over the last four years, both on and off the field. Mumbai Indians is the most popular team, closely followed by approx. 3 million fans across the globe. As a brand, Mumbai Indians is ranked No. 1 cricket club in India and is also placed 146th among 250 best sports brand in the world (Ref:Brand Finance pls, UK 2012 study). In the Social Media space, Mumbai Indians is the 7th most followed Indian brand (Ref: NM Incite 2012). The team finished as a finalist in IPL 2010, a semi-finalist in IPL 2011, winner and followed it up with a scintillating performance to win the Champions League T20 trophy the same year.
The strong fan-base can be ascribed to the Mumbai Indians’ team values – ‘Play Like One’. The franchise promotes togetherness, team spirit and cohesiveness in diversity, both on and off the field. Mumbai Indians has the potent combination of Indian and International stars such as Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Mitchell Johnson, Dinesh Karthik, and Dwyane Smith. In keeping with its philosophy of encouraging talent and youth, the team also includes Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Surya Kumar Yadav, Abu Nechim and a host of other budding, talented players. For more information, please visit www.mumbaiindians.com
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Leeladhar Singh, M: +91.77382.16155, Email: leeladhar.singh@ril.com