Last Updated on 2 hours ago by Charbel Coorey
Mumbai Indians (MI) have overhauled their coaching staff ahead of IPL 2027 after appointing Kieron Pollard as their new head coach. The franchise has appointed former India batter Robin Uthappa as the batting coach and T. Dilip as the fielding coach.
Uthappa will take up his first coaching assignment with an IPL team after representing MI in the first season of IPL in 2008. In the meantime, Dilip joins after spending almost five years as fielding coach of the Indian men’s team.
The franchise has also roped in two of its former players in Mitchell McClenaghan and Dhawal Kulkarni. McClenaghan will be bowling coach and Kulkarni has been appointed development bowling coach.
These appointments come after MI parted ways with Lasith Malinga, Paras Mhambrey and Carl Hopkinson. Malinga was the franchise’s bowling coach since IPL 2024, while Hopkinson was the team’s fielding coach.
Ex-Mumbai Indians players including Robin Uthappa take up new coaching roles
Uthappa was a part of the Mumbai Indians’ playing XI in the 2008 season before moving to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in one of the early trades in IPL history. He then went on to play for several franchises and retired from the IPL after the 2022 season.
McClenaghan played an important part in the Mumbai Indians winning the title in 2015, 2017 and 2019. The former New Zealand left-arm pacer has taken 71 wickets from 56 matches for the franchise. He was also part of the squad as Mumbai retained their title in 2020 but didn’t get to play a single match.
Dilip was a familiar face during his stint with the Indian men’s team. He was a part of the coaching setup when India won the 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cups and the 2025 Champions Trophy. And his time with India also coincided with Rohit Sharma’s captaincy and he will now partner the veteran batter at MI.
Kulkarni has long been associated with Mumbai Indians, having represented the franchise for the first six seasons of the IPL. He was part of the side that won the franchise’s first IPL title in 2013 and returned to the franchise for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
The former India pacer played 92 IPL matches in his career and also turned out for Rajasthan Royals and the now defunct Gujarat Lions. He represented India in 12 ODIs and two T20Is between 2014 and 2016.
Kulkarni has been signed up by the Mumbai Indians on a year-round basis as part of their wider player development set-up. His role “will ensure continuity to the Mumbai Indians’ performance program, ensuring continued support to player development and depth in talent pool,” the franchise said.
