Shane Bond to coach in UAE

The Mumbai Indians have announced that former New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond has been named the head coach of their MI Emirates team in the United Arab Emirates-based International League T20 competition.

Shane Bond with the Black Caps
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Bond, who is also Mumbai Indians’ bowling coach in the Indian Premier League, will be assisted by Parthiv Patel (batting coach), Vinay Kumar (bowling coach) and James Franklin (fielding coach).

Former India international Robin Singh has been appointed the franchise’s general manager.

“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, 47, said in a statement.

The six-team ILT20, which launches in January, will be the second most lucrative Twenty20 tournament after the trend-setting IPL in terms of player remuneration.

While the fixtures for the ILT20 are not out yet, the tournament will be played in the same January-February 2023 window as the SA20 league in South Africa.

That required the Mumbai Indians group to appoint multiple coaching teams, since they have teams in both the competitions.

Mark Boucher, who will step down from his position as the head coach of the South Africa men’s national team at the end of the team’s campaign at the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, has been signed up to be the head coach at Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

That position opened up after Mahela Jayawardene, the Mumbai Indians head coach since 2017, was elevated to a more global role within the Mumbai Indians group.

Jayawardene has been made the group’s global head of performance. He will be overseeing the scouting and coaching of all three teams that the owners have – at the IPL, the ILT20, and the SA20.

Bond has been a part of the coaching set-up of a number of teams in the past.

Apart from being the New Zealand bowling coach and part of the team’s backroom staff at various stages, he has also been the head coach at Sydney Thunder in the BBL, a position he held between 2018 and 2021. He has also been part of the England team as a bowling consultant in the past.

-Reuters