Five times IPL winners Mumbai Indians on Wednesday announced that Mahela Jayawardene has been promoted to a new role. And as a result, he will step down from the head coach position.
MI owners recently bought two new teams in the upcoming South Africa and UAE T20 leagues (the MI Emirates and MI Cape Towns) and expanded their roots globally.
The board members felt the need to create a central team to look after all three franchises. Thus, the management appointed Jayawardene as the Global Head of Performance.
The Sri Lankan maestro has helped MI win three trophies. His new role will require him to get involved in scouting young talents, working closely with the head coaches of all three teams, and ensuring a consistent brand of cricket.
Elated by his new role, he said, “It is an absolute honour for me to lead MI’s global cricket operations. I am very happy to see MI grow globally. I look forward to this new responsibility to build a strong cohesive global brand of cricket.”
Jayawardene joined the club in 2017 and guided the team to glory three times under his tenure (2017, 2019, 2020.)
Apart from Jayawardene, Zaheer Khan also has been promoted to a new role and will be a part of the central team.
Former India seamer, who was MI’s director of cricket operations, is now the global head of cricket development for the three teams.
Mumbai Indians have already begun their search for a new head coach and will name him shortly.