Mumbai cricket legend has been appointed the team’s head coach for the 2021-22 Indian domestic season, the Mumbai Cricket Association confirmed on Tuesday.
MCA stated Muzumdar’s appointment has been made following a recommendation by the Cricket Improvement Committee, which consists of chairman Jatin Paranjpe and co-members Nilesh Kulkarni and Vinod Kambli.
Muzumdar won the race that included eight other candidates, namely Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Wasim Jaffer, Sairaj Bahutule, Sulakshan Kulkarni, Pradeep Sunderram, Nandan Phadnis, Umesh Patwal and Vinod Raghvan. The 46-year-old got the CIC’s nod after a thorough interview process.
Muzumdar will be filling the void left by former India and Mumbai off-spinner Ramesh Powar, who was recently reappointed to the Indian women’s team head coach’s position. Powar had overseen Mumbai’s successful quest to reclaim the Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier in the year.
Muzumdar, a former Mumbai captain and batting stalwart, is considered one of the greatest domestic performers to have never represented the country on the international stage.
Despite making over 11,000 first-class runs in a career spanning two decades from 1993 to 2013, Muzumdar couldn’t ever break into the Indian Test team, which featured players such as Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman during his stay.
Never one to show any bitterness about his fate, Muzumdar has embraced commentary and coaching after playing days. A thorough gentleman, Muzumdar expressed gratitude towards MCA after his appointment and looked forward to his stint where’ll get the chance to work with some of Mumbai’s best talent.
“I am extremely excited about the new role. It is both excitement as well as gratitude. I would like to thank everyone, especially the CIC and the office bearers of the MCA, who have shown faith in me. I can’t wait to get into the Mumbai colours again. Really looking forward to it,”
Muzumdar told Cricbuzz.
“It is an amazing bunch the team. There are about seven India players in that side and my duty will be to nourish the youngsters to make sure they come in well when the India players go for the national duty. It will be responsibility to look after the India players as well. Getting them all together will be duty,”
he added.
