Lasith Malinga officially joins Mumbai Indians as bowling coach

Former Sri Lankan legendary pacer and Mumbai Indians (MI) icon Lasith Malinga has joined the five-time IPL champions as their bowling coach ahead of the IPL 2024 season. Having won several trophies with MI as a player, this could be termed as a homecoming for Malinga.

The former pacer already has a couple of seasons of IPL coaching experience, having worked in the same role at the Rajasthan Royals. However, with Shane Bond leaving MI's coaching setup after nine long years, Malinga seemed arguably like the perfect replacement.

Malinga is delighted to be back with MI after already being the bowling coach at its other franchises like MI New York in Major League Cricket and MI Cape Town in SA20 league.

Here's what Malinga had to say on MI's website about reuniting with the decorated IPL team and working with the likes of head coach Mark Boucher, batting coach Kieron Pollard and captain Rohit Sharma:

“It is truly an honour for me to be appointed Bowling Coach of Mumbai Indians and my journey in the #OneFamily continues, following MI New York and MI Cape Town.

"I am looking forward to working closely with Mark, Polly, Rohit and the rest of the team, especially the bowling unit, whose approach I loved last season, and the young MI talent that has the potential to excel, backed by the passionate MI Paltan.”

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Lasith Malinga had hung his boots for MI in style

Lasith Malinga's last delivery as an IPL player was a dream end that any player could have wanted.

His slower-ball yorker to dismiss Shardul Thakur ensured that MI won a last-ball thriller against the Chennai Super Kings by just one run and also won their fourth IPL title.

With legends like Pollard still in the backroom, Malinga would love to bring silverware back to MI again.