Zubin Bharucha has been appointed as the Director of Performance for the Mumbai Indians team in the Indian Premier League. The 56-year-old has previously worked with the Rajasthan Royals.

“Zubin Bharucha joins Mumbai Indians as Director of Performance and will work closely with the existing multi-disciplinary leadership group across all performance disciplines within the MI ecosystem,” a statement from the MI press release read.

“Zubin will join the current support staff within MI’s highly integrated ecosystem and build on Mumbai Indians’ established approach to delivering sustained excellence in player development,” it further added.

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Poor performances

Mumbai Indians finished ninth in the 2026 season. Having some of the biggest names in the IPL, have looked out of step with the T20 format of late. None of their players featured in the race for the Orange (most runs) or Purple (most wickets) Caps; their best batsman, Ryan Rickelton, finished 17th among the season’s run-getters, while leg-spinner Allah Ghazanfar was 14th among wicket-takers.

The performances have also raised sharp questions over the captaincy of Hardik Pandya. This publication reported that Pandya was in touch with his previous franchise, Gujarat Titans, where he won the title as captain in 2022 before moving to Mumbai in 2024.

“Hardik Pandya had no direct conversation with any franchise whatsoever regarding a transfer trade, or otherwise. If any approach has been made to him, that has been directed to the MI franchise,” Pandya’s spokesperson said.

had reported that MI’s team management was not keen to retain Hardik as captain and was even evaluating his role in the squad, after a season in which the team lost 10 of their 14 games, finished ninth, and extended the franchise’s title drought to six years.

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According to sources, Gujarat Titans. They had already discussed the prospect with current captain Shubman Gill, but Pandya’s captaincy condition was a deal-breaker.

“The franchise was fine with him making a return. They had even discussed the same with its captain Shubman Gill, and he, too, had agreed that the franchise could trade him back. But when his condition of captaincy was put up, everyone said no to it,” said a source.

Gill is the India captain for both Tests and One-Day Internationals.