Mumbai Indians have made a notable addition to their backroom setup ahead of IPL 2027, bringing in Zubin Bharucha as their new Director of Performance. The move sees Bharucha leave Rajasthan Royals after a long association with the franchise and its player-development programme.
Bharucha joins Mumbai Indians
The five-time IPL champions announced Bharucha's appointment on Saturday, saying he would work with the franchise's leadership teams across its wider ecosystem.
"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," Mumbai Indians said in a statement.
The franchise added, "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."
Bharucha's responsibilities are expected to cover player development and performance across the organisation.
Long association with Rajasthan Royals
Bharucha spent several years with Rajasthan Royals, holding positions including Team Director, Head of Cricket, Director of Cricket Operations and Director of High Performance.
His work at the franchise included involvement in the development of several Indian players, including Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
He was also involved with RR's high-performance centre in Talegaon, where he worked closely with emerging players.
Bharucha's association with Rajasthan Royals began with the inaugural IPL season in 2008. He served as Team Director until 2015 before moving to Delhi Daredevils, now Delhi Capitals, as Technical Director for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
He returned to RR in 2018 as Director of Cricket Operations before taking on a high-performance role.
MI looks to strengthen scouting
Bharucha's appointment comes after Mumbai Indians failed to qualify for the IPL 2026 playoffs and began working on a revamp of their setup.
A source told IANS that his role at MI would have a broad focus.
"Bharucha's focus will be on further sharpening MI's scouting process and enhancing year-round player development programmes across both the men's and women's setups, including off-season skill development. At the same time, he will be expanding and strengthening MI's existing talent scouting network," the source said.
Bharucha was a right-handed batter who played first-class cricket for Mumbai and Surrey in the 1990s, making 17 first-class and 11 List A appearances before moving into coaching.