Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan international cricket team’s batting wizard and the former coach of the Mumbai Indians, has been reinstated in his previous position. Mahela Jayawardene was the team’s head coach starting in 2017 up to the year 2022 when they won the IPL trophy for the third time.
MI appointed Mark Boucher as their head coach after the MI’s Global Head of Cricket also assumed the role of Jayawardene to oversee the growth of the franchise’s teams globally in various leagues.
Boucher’s tenure was however inauspicious as MI ended last on two occasions and qualified for the playoffs only once in the three years he was in charge.
Describing his comeback as “an interesting task”, Jayawardene, who is unarguably one of the best cricketers to grace the sport, stated that he is hoping to build upon the MI owners’ dream.
“My evolution has almost always been within the MI family. It was in 2017 there was a focus on assembling the best minds in order to play the best cricket ever which we did. Yes, to come back presently on timeline within history where we are looking towards the future and desire to deepen the love of MI, enlarge the dreams of the owners and continue adding more chapters to the Mumbai Indians saga present is a formidable sore I a waiting to peel,” Jayawardene articulated
As the Global Head of Cricket, the Sri Lankan also coordinated the MI teams’ coaching staff across different parts of the world managing to win a trophy each with MI(WPL), MI NY(Major League Cricket) and MIE(ILT20).
Akash Ambani spoke out on Sunday: “We are excited to welcome Mahela back as the Head Coach of Mumbai Indians.’ “As is the case with our global teams, all of them having settled into their respective eco-systems, that chance to return MI the great Mahela, presented itself. His leadership, understanding, and most of all love for the game, has always worked for MI. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Boucher for his contribution over the last two seasons. His professionalism was very useful, and he is already one of us.”