Image Credit- AP
Mitchell McClenaghan, the former New Zealand and
Mumbai Indians pacer has expressed a strong desire to join back the franchise that
gave him his IPL career in a coaching capacity somewhere down the line in the
near future.
McClenaghan, who was brought in ahead of the 2015
season, was crucial to three of the Mumbai Indians’ IPL championships in his
six-year tenure. In 56 outings, he took 71 wickets before being declared free
following the 2020 campaign. The left-arm fast bowler expressed gratitude to
the team following MI’s announcement and said, “It’s a see you later, not
a goodbye”.
In response to a question from Hindustan Times about
whether the 2021 post is still relevant—could McClenaghan be looking for a
mentoring role—the four-time IPL champion said he has been attending coaching
classes since retirement and that he hopes to see MI come together soon.
“It’s one of the common things get on Twitter,
people asking when I’m coming back, but currently I am going through my
coaching courses, trying to learn more about that side of the game because it’s
a sport that I enjoy and a sport that I would like to be involved in going
forward. So whether that goes locally back home or globally within the T20
circuit, and who knows? I mean, MI would be a goal of mine to reunite with that
franchise, for sure,” he smiled.
In the ongoing LLC, where he plays for Manipal Tigers,
McClenaghan is also fulfilling his childhood dream of playing against South
African legend Jacques Kallis.
“You have an incredible number of players who
have just retired. So it is just an incredible concept of playing cricket
post-retirement,” the Kiwi pacer said. “For me too, look, I got to
play against Jacques Kallis, he is someone I admired while I was growing up.
Unfortunately, careers never crossed over, so I didn’t get any opportunity to
play against him. So I got to see some awesome shots from the bat of Kallis the
other night.”