After a very successful IPL Auction in Kolkata, Mrs. Nita Ambani, Akash Ambani, Zaheer Khan and Mahela Jayawardene answered fan questions in a LIVE interactive session on Mumbai Indians’ social media channel.

Excerpts from the LIVE interaction:

Zak: As promised, as soon as the auction is over, we are here with the key members of MI who have been very active at the auction table.

Question for Mahela, from rohitian_kingdom45: What are your strategies before getting into the auction?

Mahela: Well I think, the strategy was to try and add value to the squad that we have. In the sense of trying to create a bit more excitement, a bit more challenge to the existing squad which is a very, very strong squad. But at the same time, you need to have a little bit of that X-factor when you are going into an IPL season because every season is a challenge, every team comes with new players and new strategies so we need to be equipped with that. So, that was the thinking behind it. At the same time, auction allows you to find new talent, find new young players which MI has done in the past, so we’ve gone through the same processes, same planning and try and execute the best way we possibly could.

Zaheer: For Akash, this is from Mohit. He is very curious about our first auction name and we straightaway went for that. And he’s asking how happy are you to get Chris Lynn at the base price?

Akash: I’m happy to get Chris Lynn at any price. Chris Lynn is one name that we’ve discussed for a long time and we were in it in the bigger auction also and now when he got released last year from KKR to be back, he brings that X-factor to the squad I think. He has taken so many games away from Mumbai Indians last year in Kolkata when he got a 29-ball 54. So, very happy to have him in the squad and I think he’ll bring an X-factor to the XI and to the squad.

Zaheer: That’s great. I think he’s going to add lots of power and all the fans are very excited to have someone like Lynn.

Akash: Lynnsanity (In the background)

Zaheer: This is for Mrs. Ambani and this is about our skipper from Varun. This year will mark Rohit’s decade with Mumbai Indians. What do you have to say about our Hitman?

Mrs. Nita Ambani: Hi Varun. We bought Rohit for the 2011 IPL and since then, what a journey it has been. As a youngster, as a batsman, then took up the captaincy, mid-way through the season. In 2013, we won our first IPL trophy with him as a captain and went on to win 3 more. It has been a great journey with Rohit. But I’m so proud (of) the way he’s played for India now. The highest run-getter in ODIs this year. And just to see him bat fills your heart with pride. So, that’s Rohit Sharma.

Zaheer Khan: He truly has been a phenomenon for us. He has been having a great year. Now this one is for me from Mahender. He’s asking why did we invest so much in Coulter-Nile, what does he bring to the MI squad?

So yes, I think this year’s auction was, in a way, the dynamics were a bit different. The few slots in a similar category which were going for a marked-up price is something that we felt in this auction. We had a few options sorted around that and we felt with regard to our combination as MI squad it was a requirement for us to fulfill that slot and everyone were pushing us and Nathan Coulter-Nile being a part of MI will certainly bring value to the table. And hence, we decided to go ahead with Coulter-Nile.

Akash: The thing is, he gives us everything in all three departments. He’s a great fielder, can bowl in any scenario and of course we saw his antics with the bat in the World Cup.

Mrs. Nita Ambani: Didn’t he get 90 runs in 70 balls? 

Akash: Yes, 92 in 60 balls.

Mahela: And an experienced player as well. Internationally as well as domestically he’s been around for a long time and we needed that option for us to have different combinations going forward with.

Zaheer Khan: Mahela, this one is for you. Will we see Chirs Lynn open the batting for Mumbai Indians along with Rohit Sharma?

Mahela: There are possibilities. But, at the same time, not to forget what Quinton de Kock, you know, produced for us last season. He’s been fantastic. Rohit was brilliant, a great partnership together, they had a very good season. But like I said, these are all the options available for us and you never know, he might bat somewhere else for us. Gives us that X-factor, so we’ll think about it. It’s always good to have these options available for you rather than not available.

Zaheer: Akash, this one is another one for you from Tejas. How confident are you with your squad for the upcoming edition of IPL?

Akash: I think with our trading and with whatever we wanted, we are at 90-95% of the exact players that we’d wanted. And, I’m really happy with the squad I think. I know we’ve had a good contingent of international (players) this year but we’re very excited for the uncapped Indians picked up also. They’re going to be fantastic talents, ready for this season and looking forward to seeing them also shine for us.

Zaheer: That certainly has been our focal point every season. We’ve definitely put in a lot of energy in terms of finding those uncapped youngsters and picking up from that.

Another one from Varun for Mrs Ambani. It’s around the youth which we’ve been investing in. The question is, how important is it for the Mumbai Indians to invest in the ‘Youth First Policy’?

Mrs. Nita Ambani: I think that has been MI’s philosophy from 2010 to back youngsters. And we’ve seen that really prosper now in Mumbai Indians. We have had Hardik pandya, Bumrah, Krunal who came to us as uncapped players. This year we welcome back Saurabh Tiwary and Mohsin Khan. We also have Digvijay Deshmukh and Prince joining us. So, we’re quite excited about the young talent that we have at Mumbai Indians.

Zaheer:: Mahela this one is for you. Will this be the season when we get to see Ishan Kishan at his explosive best?

Mahela: Yeah, I think we always invest in potential as well as exciting talent. We’ve seen bits and pieces of Ishan delivering for us. But he’s been batting out of his position. I mean, he’s an opening batsman but is doing a different role for us in our line-up and last season, under pressure, especially in the end of the tournament, he really came and played a really good innings for us. I think with the confidence he’s matured over the last few years and when we back these young players they seem to do well for Mumbai Indians and that’s been our philosophy. All the youngsters whom we’ve backed have come good. So, yeah, I’m looking forward for the season and specially for Ishan to try and fulfill his promises.

Zaheer: Akash, this one is for you. What is the toughest thing about the IPL auctions? Sahil wants to know.

Akash: Hi Sahil. I think the toughest thing about the IPL auction is when you are letting go off the players that have been a part of your winning squad last year. Of course, we were affected a lot due to injuries of our foriegn players and then we let a few players go because they would have better playing chances at the other franchises that they were going to and I just want to wish everyone who was part of our 2019 squad all the best and looking forward. From our planning perspectives, we start a little early our process so we’ve been planning for the last five months. We’re happy with the players we’ve got. That’s it, I would say.

Zaheer: This one is for you, Mrs Ambani. How do you keep players motivated after a few bad results?

Mrs. Nita Ambani: Zak, you would know this. We back our players come what may. I came all the way to South Africa in 2009 when we had lost all our matches. Still remember, in 2015, people had given up on us. We’d lost the first six matches and then we went and won the trophy. So, never give up, I think that’s the philosophy of Mumbai Indians. So, for me, it’s very important that we back all the boys on the field.

Zaheer: Absolutely. All the fans must be aware of our seasons over the years. We’ve seen Mumbai Indians as one of the teams who have been coming from behind. Even if we’ve lost the games we’ve made sure that we’ve come back to create that impact during the season. And the reason has been, coming from the top management. Mrs Ambani, you’ve been the driving force in terms of keeping everyone motivated and keeping everyone believing in comebacks, returns and fightbacks.

Mrs. Nita Ambani: Remember the belief workshop we did after we lost here in Calcutta last year? 

Zaheer: Yes, that has been the philosophy with overall how Reliance has approached everything and I think that trickles down the squad as well and we all back each other and we make sure that we keep that being going through irrespective of where we are and how the results are going.

Akash: But one thing we want to add is that we want to start believing in winning matches and getting our beliefs going and definitely want to start the season with a bang. People say we wake up late but that job lies with Zak and Mahela this time to start well and give us a good season.

Zaheer: Well, Mahela is a hard taskmaster so he will make sure that we start on the right foot this year.

Mahela: Yeah, the first game’s important.

Zaheer: Everybody is excited to see batting partnership. But how excited are you to see bowling partnerships that can be formed in the MI camp.

This year is definitely an exciting year. With someone with an experience like Malinga guiding everyone and Bumrah being the X-factor shaping up and getting better and better with experience. We have someone like Trent Boult, we’ve traded now. We are very excited for him to join the squad. Nathan Coulter-Nile is someone who has been a part of MI. So yeah, exciting times ahead. We have some Indian talent as well, bowlers which we have inducted. Rahul Chahar has been very good. So it’s a great bowling unit, I think. We have the services of Shane Bond as well who will be guiding them through and making sure they are on top of their game. So we are very excited about it. Yes, bowling partnerships is something which we always focus on and I always keep saying it’s a batter’s game but bowlers win you matches.

Zaheer: Mahela, how satisfied are you with the auction? Any particular pick which surprised you?

Mahela: Very satisfied, I think. Before the auction, we prepared as well. The trading what we did, picking up Trent Boult because we lost Behrendorff due to injury. That was crucial for us. Rather than going into the auction and trying to fight it out, we managed to do a good trade. So that eases a lot of pressure off you when you walk into an auction. I think that processes, those planning are crucial. Going into the auction, we had certain positions that we wanted to strengthen and we went and strengthened those positions with experienced players, local and overseas. I think Chris Lynn was a surprise at that price. With the experience that he brings, the explosiveness that we can utilise in given conditions and the exciting young talent we managed to harness this year as well. So, looking forward to this season. But what you have to remember is that the players that we had for the last four-five years are very experienced players. They provide the core strength of our entire unit. And these guys have performed really well whether it be for MI or for their respective countries. That gives us lot of strength going into a season, knowing that these experiences are always going to be counted at the back end of the season. When we push for those close wins, especially the playoffs, I think they have held their nerve, specially with Rohit leading them, having these close matches, specially the finals the last year we played. We came back from a situation that probably not many teams would have won in. It shows that we have character in the unit. So, we back them. From day one we always back these guys to bring out that character, the fighting spirit and I’m looking forward to that.

Watch the entire interaction here: