Mumbai Indians XI and their famed Australian team equivalents

6) Hardik Pandya – Shane Watson

With the evolution of Hardik Pandya, the batsman has given an edge to this Mumbai Indians batting line-up. Especially, his ability to play the big shots at will has turned him into a powerhouse of this side. He has been getting into this freakish habit of changing the momentum of a game in just a matter of overs. And now it seems that he is the X-factor of this invincible MI team.

What’s more impressive is that Pandya’s stature is growing with every outing. He is slowly getting into that level where he is single-handedly winning games for his team. And stunningly, his transition is very close to Shane Watson’s in the Yellow jersey. There was a time when the all-rounder became the A-lister of the Australian team.

Watson played an important role in the country’s white-ball dominance a decade ago. His match-winning capabilities helped the team win back-to-back Champions trophies in 2006 and 2009 respectively, similar to Pandya’s contributions to Mumbai’s consecutive IPL title win. Notably, Watson’s power game became a talking point in the cricketing circle in his early days, and it is equivalent to Pandya’s range hitting these days.