Robin Uthappa and T Dilip headline Mumbai Indians’ major overhaul to their coaching staff under newly appointed head coach Kieron Pollard. Uthappa, the former India batter who represented MI in the inaugural IPL season in 2008, has been appointed the team’s batting coach ahead of IPL 2027 while Dilip has been named the fielding coach – a role he assumed with the Indian men’s team for nearly five years.
MI have also appointed two more of their former players, Mitchell McClenaghan and Dhawal Kulkarni, to their support staff as bowling coach and development bowling coach respectively. The move comes on the back of the franchise parting ways with Lasith Malinga, who was the team’s bowling coach since IPL 2024, as well as Paras Mhambrey and Carl Hopkinson, the latter of whom served as fielding coach.
Uthappa’s appointment marks his first coaching stint with an IPL team having retired from the league after the 2022 season. He was a regular in the MI playing XI in IPL 2008 before being involved in one of the leagues’ earliest trades in exchange for Zaheer Khan from Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
McClenaghan, the former left-arm seamer from New Zealand, played an instrumental role in three of MI’s title wins – in 2015, 2017 and 2019, bagging 71 wickets from 56 outings for the franchise. He was also part of the squad during their successful title defence in 2020, although he did not play a game. McClenaghan had also served MI Emirates as their bowling coach in ILT20 2024, where the franchise emerged champions.
Dilip shot to fame as the fielding coach of the senior Indian men’s team and was a part of three ICC title wins – the T20 World Cup in 2024 and 2026, and the 2025 Champions Trophy. His stint overlapped with Rohit Sharma’s tenure as India’s captain and Dilip will now reunite with the veteran cricketer at MI.
Kulkarni represented MI across the first six IPL seasons and was part of their maiden title win in 2013, before returning for another stint across IPL 2020 and 2021. His 92-match IPL journey included stints with Rajasthan Royals and the now-defunct Gujarat Lions, while he represented India in 12 ODIs and two T20Is from 2014 to 2016. In a statement, MI said that Kulkarni will have a year-round role that “will ensure continuity in Mumbai Indians’ performance programme, providing consistent support for player development and talent pool depth.”
The first task for the new coaching staff under Pollard will be to finalise the player retentions ahead of the auction in December.
