Kieron Pollard, an icon of Mumbai Indians, is all set to lead their sister franchise MI Emirates in the UAE’s International League T20. For SA20 in South Africa, the MI group trusted Rashid Khan to lead them to glory.
MI Cape Town has a power-packed line-up and Khan pipped the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone for the captaincy. Moreover, the franchise recently signed Jofra Archer as a wildcard signing and will play two matches this season after coming off a long injury layoff.
The team also has young sensation Dewald Brevis, whereas Simon Katich is handed the responsibility as the head coach. The side will play their first match against Paarl Royals at their home ground in Cape Town on January 10.
MI Emirates also have some of the biggest T20 stars in Dwayne Bravo, Trent Boult, Nicholas Pooran and Imran Tahir. Pollard was the most obvious choice to lead here. He recently retired from the Indian Premier League after he was released from MI ahead of the auction, and stayed with the franchise as batting coach.
“We have an amazing mix of talent, experience, and passion in both our captains. I’m convinced that Polly and Rashid will take forward the MI ethos and MI brand of cricket.
Both will work with our excellent coaching teams to infuse the MI spirit in MI Emirates and MI Cape Town and win the hearts of cricket fans in UAE and South Africa,”
said Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm that owns the MI group.
In what was an overhaul of sorts in the support staff, Mumbai Indians elevated Mahela Jayawardene to global head of performance and Zaheer Khan to global head of cricket development. Both watch over the three franchises. Mark Boucher was appointed as the MI coach in IPL while Shane Bond is set to coach MI Emirates.
