Amit Pagnis appointed Mumbai coach for 2020-21 domestic season

Former Mumbai and Railways cricketer Amit Pagnis has been appointed the Mumbai coach for the 2020-21 domestic season, which gets underway with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. In the tournament, Mumbai are placed in Group E alongside Puducherry, Delhi, Kerala, Andhra and Haryana. After loads of deliberation, the T20 league is set to start on December 10.

Pagnis replaced Vinayak Samant, the former Mumbai wicketkeeper, who was there as the coach in the last two seasons. He was roped in by the Cricket Improvement Committee, comprising of chairman Lalchand Rajput along with Sameer Dighe and Raju Kulkarni. Amit Pagnis, the new coach, is expected to meet the selectors on Friday, December 18 and his contract ends on March 31, 2021.

The guy who took on Warne even before Tendulkar is now Mumbai Ranji head coach. Amit Pagnis, hit Warne for 4 boundaries in first two overs. His 60-ball 50 in the practice game before first Test is least talked about but the 90s kid know what that knock meant for 1998 series. pic.twitter.com/acXfWlPfIF

— Vimal Kumar/विमल कुमार (@Vimalwa) December 18, 2020

In his career, Pagnis played 95 first-class, 43 List A and eight T20s from 1995-96 to 2008. The left-hander notched over 7,300 runs with 14 centuries and 39 half-centuries to show for his efforts. His last competitive match was in the 2008-09 edition of the Ranji Trophy against Baroda.

Mumbai are the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, having won the title as many as 41 times. But since the 2015-16 season, Mumbai haven’t won the trophy and couldn’t even qualify for the knockouts in the last two seasons.

Back in 2018-19, they won the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but have underperformed in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in recent years.