Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga has returned to the Mumbai Indians backroom staff ahead of IPL 2024. Malinga, who played for the MI Paltan until 2021, will serve his second stint with the five-time champions. The 39-year-old was part of the Rajasthan Royals backroom staff last year, but returns to the Wankhede to replace Shane Bond.
Malinga previously served as mentor of Mumbai Indians in 2018. He then returned to partner Jasprit Bumrah in the attack, helping them win the 2019 IPL title. The Sri Lankan has won four IPL titles and a Champions League T20 with the MI Paltan.
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Malinga played for Mumbai in 139 games overall, taking 195 wickets at a 7.12 economy rate. Of those 170 wickets, the sixth-most in the league came in the IPL.
After retiring in 2021, Lasith Malinga joined fellow Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara at Rajasthan Royals. In his first year, RR reached the final, with the Yuzvendra Chahal and Co excelling with the ball in hand. The second season saw them fall short of the playoffs. He also played a good hand in developing the skills of Kuldeep Sen and Prasidh Krishna.
Malinga replaces Shane Bond, who served as MI’s bowling coach for 9 years. The former New Zealand pacer Bond had joined Mumbai in 2015 and played a key role with Rohit Sharma and Mahela Jayawardene. With Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah in their ranks, MI will hope that malinga can bring the best out of them.
It is part of a major reshuffle at MI, which saw Jayawardene replaced with Mark Boucher last season. Kieron Pollard was also roped in as batting coach after retiring from the IPL before the 2023 season.
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