Former South African wicketkeeper-batsman Mark Boucher recently announced that he will be stepping down as the head coach of the South African team after the T20 World Cup 2022. However, now it has been reported by ESPNCricinfo that Boucher is set to replace Mahela Jayawardene as the head coach of the most successful franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Mumbai Indians.
Boucher was heavily rumoured to take charge of the South Africa T20 league side, MI Cape Town. But since Simon Katich has been officially appointed as the head coach of that franchise, Boucher is now favourite to take over coaching duties of the Mumbai Indians from Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene.
Jayawardene, on the other hand is set to leave his role, after being promoted as the Head of Global Performance for the MI group. In this role, he will look over all the coaching staffs of the three teams the group own across the world namely Mumbai Indians, MI Captetown and MI Emirates. In fact, the report by ESPN Cricinfo also states that Jayawardene is ready for all the personnel of his coaching staffs for all teams, which will be announced soon.
Mark Boucher worked in the IPL as the wicketkeeping consultant of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2016. However, his major success as a coach came back home, where he was head coach of domestic side Titans, where he led the team to five domestic titles. He was then appointed as the head coach of South Africa in 2019.
“We are deeply saddened by Mark’s decision to leave us but we also understand and respect his wishes. He is a Proteas legend and has done so much for the game in our country, both on the field and over the last three years off it, which we highly appreciate,” Cricket South Africa director Enoch Nkwe said in an official statement after Boucher announced his decision to step down.
