India, March 30 -- Shardul Thakur is a character, no two ways. He has made some important contributions to Indian cricket over the years, particularly in Test matches in Australia and England. But as far as his IPL career is concerned, he has been more of a rolling stone who gathers no moss. To date, he has represented six franchises in the league, and the latest in the list is Mumbai Indians, the city where he lives, the city where he has learnt his craft. Enough of his moving from one franchise to another, though.

In what should be heart-warming to many, MI captain Hardik Pandya has assured Thakur that he is going to play franchise cricket at Mumbai for the rest of his IPL career. Pandya is another character and takes one to back anoth...