IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians appoint Mahela Jayawardane as head coach

Five-time IPL champion Mumbai Indians have appointed former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardane as the head coach for IPL 2025. This comes as a part of the team's major overhaul ahead the mega auction.

Jayawardene has been the team's most successful coach when in the role from 2017-2022 and oversaw their title-winning campaigns in 2017, 2019 and 2020-21.

Jayawardene replaced former South African wicketkeeper-batter Mark Boucher who had a two-year stint as MI's head coach. Mumbai Indians qualified for the knockouts in the 2023 edition but endured a poor run this year, finishing last with only four wins in 14 matches.



"My journey within the MI family has always been one of evolution. In 2017, the focus was on bringing together a talented group of individuals to play the best cricket ever and we did very well," Jayawardene said in a release issued by the franchise.

"Now to return, at the same moment in history, where we look ahead at the future and the opportunity to further strengthen the love of MI, build on the vision of the owners, and continue to add to the history of Mumbai Indians, is an exciting challenge I am looking forward to," he added.

There was a massive controversy when Boucher took over and India Test captain Rohit Sharma was removed from captaincy and was replaced by all-rounder Hardik Pandya. The fans did not like the move, which saw the five-time championship winning captain being replaced by a player who had been traded into the side.

Jayawardane's fist task would be to retain players with the complicated new rules and build a strong team core of players going into the mega-auction.

How new retention rules may affect a franchise's budget

For the upcoming IPL season, each franchise has a Rs 120 crore budget, plus an additional ₹12.60 crore for player retentions and the auction.

• First three retentions: Teams will lose Rs 18 crore for the first player, Rs 14 crore for the second, and Rs 11 crore for the third.
• Fourth and fifth retentions: Each costs another Rs 18 crore and Rs 14 crore.
• A mandatory uncapped player for Rs 4 crore.

If a team chooses to retain all five players along with the mandatory uncapped player, it will have Rs 41 crore left to buy the remaining 15 players during the auction.