"Used To Get Smashed A Lot": India Great Delivers Unfiltered Judgment On Mumbai Indians' New Coaches
Mumbai Indians have revamped their coaching staff ahead of IPL 2027, with Kieron Pollard being appointed head coach, Robin Uthappa batting coach and Mitchell McClenaghan bowling coach.
Mumbai Indians (MI) are making wholesale changes heading into IPL 2027. There have been massive changes in the coaching staff, there is likely to be a major captaincy change too, and trade moves may also be on the cards before the auction. As part of the coaching changes, Kieron Pollard has been appointed as head coach, while Robin Uthappa and Mitchell McClenaghan have been named batting and bowling coach respectively. Former India cricketer and BCCI chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth, however, is not particularly impressed with one of MI's appointments.
"Robin Uthappa will be a good batting coach because he has been very successful in the IPL. He is a highly successful IPL player. So for the IPL, he is the correct guy. As for Mitchell McClenaghan, I am not sure, as he used to get smashed a lot in the IPL during his playing days," Srikkanth said, speaking on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Sportskeeda.
"T Dilip is also an excellent appointment, as he has done it for India and has worked with Rohit Sharma," he added.
A New Zealand international, McClenaghan was a key cog of Mumbai Indians' bowling attack in the mid-2010s, playing crucial roles in their IPL 2015 and 2017 title-winning campaigns.
Overall, he picked up an impressive 71 wickets in 56 games for the franchise, conceding at an economy rate of 8.49.
Srikkanth opined that Jasprit Bumrah should have been the natural person to take over captaincy from Hardik Pandya, but conceded that Rohit could be the correct choice in such a situation.
"The natural move should have been Bumrah as captain after Hardik. But I think MI are trying to stabilize things in the upcoming season. After Hardik took over, the team has become totally disoriented. To right those wrongs, Rohit might be the ideal man," Srikkanth said.
"The very fact that Rohit is coming as captain means there is something wrong with Hardik, and he won't be retained. MI wants to go back to winning ways, and so it's a good choice to go with Rohit," he further said.
MI are reportedly in talks with multiple franchises regarding Hardik's trade. The deadline to announce the retentions is November 15, while the IPL 2027 auction will take place on December 16.
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