Mumbai Indians have brought in Zubin Bharucha as their new Director of Performance. He has been one of IPL’s talent developers to their backroom setup while working for RR previously. The five-time IPL champions announced the appointment on Friday, saying Bharucha will work with the franchise’s existing multi-disciplinary leadership group across its different performance areas. He will also join the current support staff and be involved in player development across the MI setup.
Bharucha joins Mumbai Indians after a long association with Rajasthan Royals where he worked in several senior roles. A former first-class batter who represented Mumbai and Surrey and he has spent much of his career working behind the scenes to develop young cricketers. One of the biggest examples of his work has been Yashasvi Jaiswal. The India opener has spoken several times about the role Bharucha played during his early years at Rajasthan Royals.
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After scoring a match-winning 68 against Punjab Kings in IPL 2022, Jaiswal dedicated the innings to Bharucha. “I want to dedicate this innings to Zubin sir. He has helped me a lot during all the times, whenever I was sitting with him, when I was down. He has been pushing me always… pushing me everyday like ‘you can do it, you’ll do it, just keep working hard,’” Jaiswal had said.
Jaiswal's father has also credited Bharucha for the amount of work he put into the youngster's development. After Jaiswal's successive double centuries against England, he said Bharucha would personally train his son and keep pushing him through demanding sessions. Bharucha's work at Rajasthan Royals was not limited to Jaiswal. He was also involved in the development of players such as Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag and teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Mumbai Indians finished ninth in the 2026 IPL season and missed the playoffs and the franchise is now looking to strengthen its setup ahead of the next campaign. Mahela Jayawardene remains the head coach while Bharucha's appointment adds another experienced figure to the performance and development side of the franchise. His responsibilities are expected to include player development, skill work and helping strengthen the talent pipeline across Mumbai Indians' setups. Mumbai Indians have been known for producing young players and Bharucha's experience could prove valuable. His record at Rajasthan Royals has been excellent and he will be keen to make an impact to his new franchise.
