IPL franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday announced that Mahela Jayawardene stepped down as the head coach of the team. He had returned as coach before IPL 2025 and thus has been at the helm for the past two seasons. Jayawardene was head coach of Mumbai Indians between 2017 and 2022.
Mumbai Indians have been a special part of my journey for over a decade, Said Jayawardene in A statement released by the franchise He wished to be thankful to the players, coaching staff and fans for their backing during his time at CSK and the moments they shared together. In his post, he also thanked MI owners Nita Ambani and Akash Ambani for their faith & support as well as friendship over the years. Jayawardene said he was proud of what they had accomplished, and hoped the team good luck moving forward.
Former Sri Lanka middle-order batsman, Jayawardene was re-appointed as Mumbai Indians head coach ahead of IPL 2025 taking over from Mark Boucher. He had previously been global head of performance for the franchise from 2022 to 2024. He also managed the team’s other franchises, MI Emirates in the ILT20, MI New York in Major League Cricket (MLC) and MI Cape Town in South Africa’s SA20 league.
Jayawardene has served as the Mumbai Indians head coach for three IPL title-winning seasons in his first term. But his second one was a disaster. Mumbai Indians: 4th in league stage, Lost Qualifier 2 | IPL 2025. IPL 2026 only saw the team slide further down to finish ninth in the points table.
Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani recorded her gratitude for Jayawardene. Also read: In first white dwarf stars image, scientists capture continue reading of how the universe ages “His leadership was calm and honest and his passion for cricket made a lot of difference to this group and that means so much. She added that Jayawardene would always be a part of the MI family and she wished him well for future endeavours.
Mumbai Indians have now to hire a new head coach before the next IPL season. That leaves the franchise with just under a month before the November 15 deadline to retain players. The selection of a coach is crucial in this context because the next IPL auction will most likely be held a month later in Goa itself.
The last time Mumbai Indians laid their hands on the IPL trophy was in 2020, when they became the first-ever side to successfully defend the title. Both their title-winning campaigns under Jayawardene came during his first spell as head coach. Now it turns its attention to trying to rebuild and return to winning ways after two disappointing years.
Jayawardene’s exit also comes at a tough time for the captain Hardik Pandya. In IPL 2026, Mumbai Indians finished second last in the table after managing to win just four of their 14 matches. In the aftermath of the team’s poor finish, reports and social media chatter started suggesting that Hardik might be on his way out to another franchise ahead of the next season.
The IPL 2026 was also special for Hardik in individual term 206 runs in 10 innings with a SR of 138.25 and H.S of 40 In the process, he managed to take only four wickets in his 10 outings. But reports surrounding a potential trade don’t support his departure from Mumbai Indians, and his future with the franchise is unclear.
The Mumbai Indians had their season review in August 2026 and were reportedly deliberating over changes to their coaching staff. After the team’s disappointing results, both the player leadership group and the franchise reportedly determined changes were needed. Jayawardene was also believed to have endorsed the proposal of fringing young coaches into the system as means to bring in new ideas and more forward-thinking approaches.
The new head coach will have the opportunity to assess these existing coaching staff, which includes assistant coach Kieron Pollard and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey. Mumbai Indians have a couple of significant decisions to make before IPL 2024, starting with the choice of the new coach and then looking at the squad with high-profile players like Rohit Sharma.