Mumbai Indians to travel with a different coach

There has been an overhaul in Mumbai Indians’ coaching set-up. Shaun Pollock takes up the job of head coach-cum-mentor and he will be supported by Jonty Rhodes as well as Pravin Amre, reports G Krishnan.

There has been an overhaul in Mumbai Indians’ coaching set-up. Shaun Pollock takes up the job of head coach-cum-mentor and he will be supported by Jonty Rhodes (advisor-cum-fielding coach) as well as Pravin Amre (coach-cum-analyst).

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Last year, quite a few positions were created. It was widely believed captain Sachin Tendulkar was behind them.

His best pals were on the board with Subroto Banerjee as the bowling coach, Sameer Dighe as the fielding coach and Atul Bedade as the travels and logistics manager.

Then there was Lalchand Rajput as coach, and television commentator Harsha Bhogle as team advisor. None of them are around this season.

This year, the team’s support staff includes physio Nitin Patel, team manager Shishir Hattangadi, Ramji Srinivasan as trainer and Australian Donald Shugg as the masseur. Rahul Sanghvi continues as the player coordinator.

Bedade and Dighe’s contracts were only for a year though the former says he was asked to continue. “I was asked to continue but I am busy with my mother, who has undergone a bypass surgery,” said Bedade.

Bhogle said he had made it clear that he would be involved only till the auction (held in February). “I made it clear that my role as the ‘sounding board’ was till the auction,” he said.

Said a team official: “We were new to cricket last year. We had to do with people who were available. But this year, we have become wiser. There is more clarity on what we need.”