Zubin Bharucha has been appointed as Mumbai Indians’ Director of Performance, the five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winners announced on Saturday.
In the season gone by, the franchise led by Hardik Pandya had a horrible campaign, winning just four games in 14 matches. They finished second from the bottom. In fact, the franchise is struggling in the last few seasons. They haven't won since 2020. In 2024, in what was the first season for Hardik Pandya as captain, they finished bottom of the league. Last year, they improved to reach the playoffs, but that was all.
Mumbai Indians will hope that with the coming of Bharucha, they turn their fortunes around. 56-year-old Bharucha is a former first-class cricketer from Mumbai. He was a batsman, and in the 17 FC games that he played, he scored more than 1,000 runs with the help of three centuries. His average was a decent 42.54. He also played a few matches for county side Surrey. Bharucha, who has had important portfolios with Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in the past, is coming in with a lot of experience, and MI would look to gain from his expertise.
“Zubin Bharucha joins the Mumbai Indians as Director of Performance and will work closely with the existing multi-disciplinary leadership group across all performance disciplines within the MI ecosystem.
{{/usCountry}}“Zubin Bharucha joins the Mumbai Indians as Director of Performance and will work closely with the existing multi-disciplinary leadership group across all performance disciplines within the MI ecosystem.
{{/usCountry}}“Zubin will join the current support staff within MI’s highly integrated ecosystem and build on the Mumbai Indians’ established approach to delivering sustained excellence in player development.
“Welcome to the Blue and Gold, Zubin!” Mumbai Indians wrote on their website.
The Hardik Pandya conundrum!
Meanwhile, there are credible reports that Pandya will leave the franchise before the next season kicks off. Which means MI will need to find a new captain. After the retirement of Ajinkya Rahane, Kolkata Knight Riders is the interested party along with Chennai Super Kings. It will be interesting to see if MI will find someone from the current squad, like Tilak Varma, vice-captain of the Indian national team, or they will bring in someone from outside. But in light of the Pandya experience, which saw MI import him from Gujarat Titans after the 2023 IPL, there is a strong possibility they will try to find someone within the ranks. Pandya’s tenure has been chaotic at best, and he didn’t appear to have much support from his players as well as the franchise fans.