Amol Muzumdar appointed Mumbai Men's Senior Team coach for season 2021-22

The Mumbai Cricket Association has zeroed in on the name of Amol Muzumdar as the Coach of the Mumbai Senior Men’s team for the season 2021-22. The MCA had recently started the search for the new coach after the post was vacated by Ramesh Powar, who took over as the India women’s team head coach after WV Raman was not considered for the same.

The MCA had last week sought applications for the post of the coach and laid down eligibility criteria, which included that the applicant should have played 50-class matches.

A number of domestic cricket stalwarts including the likes of former India all-rounder and veteran coach Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Wasim Jaffer, Sairaj Bahutule, former Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni, Pradeep Sunderram, Nandan Phadnis, Umesh Patwal and Vinod Raghvan had applied for the post of the Mumbai’s men’s team, but the Cricket Improvement Committee of MCA consisting of Jatin Paranjape (Chairman), Nilesh Kulkarni and Vinod Kambli has given a go-ahead to Muzumdar.

Muzumdar’s prior coaching experiences

Muzumdar, a former Mumbai captain under whom the team won the coveted Ranji Trophy, has been a batting coach with the NCA, IPL team Rajasthan Royals, and the South African team apart from being a well-known commentator.

He was understood to be MCA’s preferred choice after he had come close to the appointment last year, but a dispute with the Lalchand Rajput-headed CIC and the Mumbai Association officials meant that Muzumdar saw Powar take over the role. Once Powar submitted his resignation, having joined as the women’s team coach, the likeliest candidate to get the role was Muzumdar.

One of the most dominant Ranji sides, Mumbai has won the tournament a record 41 times. Last season, they had appointed Amit Pagnis as the coach for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, however, a forgettable show meant that he stepped down from his position, after which the team clinched the Vijay Hazare Trophy during Powar’s stint.

Muzumdar has been a domestic cricket giant with experience of 171 First-Class and 113 List-A games. He has scored 11167 runs with an average of 48.13, 30 centuries and 60 half-centuries in his First-Class career, while he averages 38.20 for 3286 List-A runs.