Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond, the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2015, has been appointed as head coach of MI Emirates, the Mumbai Indians-owned team in UAE’s International League T20 (ILT20).
Notably, Bond joined the Mumbai-based franchise in 2015 and has since won 4 titles and guided bowlers to realize their potential.
“It’s a privilege to be appointed the Head Coach of MI Emirates. It’s always exciting to build a new team, and I’m looking forward to furthering the MI legacy and inspiring our players to take the game to new heights,” Bond said as quoted by MumbaiIndians.com.
Further, the coaching team also features current MI talent scouts, Parthiv Patel and Vinay Kumar, who are set to debut as coaches, with Parthiv as Batting, and Vinay as Bowling coach. In addition, former MI all-rounder James Franklin will join the side as fielding coach and ex-India cricketer Robin Singh will be General Manager.
Parthiv has represented MI in the past and, since 2020, has been a part of the talent scouting team. Similarly, Vinay, another former MI player, joined the scouting team in 2021. Both Parthiv and Vinay were a part of Mumbai Indians’ winning campaigns in 2015 and 2017.
Recently, the Mumbai team had announced the appointment of Simon Katch and Mark Boucher as the head coaches of their sides in SA20 and IPL, respectively. The reason behind appointing multiple coaching teams is both ILT20 and SA20 are likely to clash with each other.
“I welcome Shane, Robin, Parthiv, Vinay and James to their new roles in the MI Emirates. Having been an integral part of MI for various periods of time, the coaching team is exceptionally well-versed in the values that make MI what it is. I’m sure they would be able to build MI Emirates as a team that attracts the love of passionate MI fans,” said Akash M. Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm.
