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MI Cape Town has announced former Australia international, Simon Katich, as their head coach, along with former South Africa batter Hashim Amla to the staff as batting coach Ahead of the inaugural South Africa T20 League player auction. The franchise addressed the new appointments through a press release.
Katich has played in the Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab (now known as Punjab Kings) for a few seasons. Similarly, he has had coaching roles with multiple T20 teams in the past with Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
As quoted on the Mumbai Indians website, Katich said, “It is an absolute honour to be offered the position of head coach for MI Cape Town. It is always special to put together a new team, hone skills and build a team culture. I look forward to ensuring that MI Cape Town develops into a team that leverages local talent and has MI core values at its heart.”
Whereas, Hashim Amla retired from international cricket in 2019 and has been working as a batting coach in the Pakistan Super League. The other members of the coaching staff are former Mumbai Indians fielding coach James Pamment and former South Africa player Robin Peterson as the team's General Manager.
The Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, Akash Ambani reacted to the new signings in the press release on the Mumbai Indians website. “I’m happy to welcome Simon and Hashim on MI Cape Town coaching team. Together with James and Robin, we’ll be a team that will grow the MI brand of cricket in South Africa and bring to this cricket-loving country the values and ethos MI stands for”, he quoted.
Peterson has previously played for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Notably, MI Cape Town has already announced the signing of Kagiso Rabada, Dewald Brevis, Rashid Khan, Sam Curran, and Liam Livingstone for the inaugural edition.