The Mumbai cricket crisis may have gone from bad to worse, with head coach Amit Pagnis having resigned, taking responsibility for Mumbai’s miserable outing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. But the Mumbai Cricket Assocation (MCA) seems to be in no rush to plan the road ahead.
“We have received his resignation. We will decide the future course of action in due course,” Sanjay Naik, MCA secretary, told Sportstar on Thursday.
Interestingly, MCA may find it difficult to get a new coach on board in time for the preparation for the next domestic tournament, set to begin on February 17. The lack of preparation was cited as the main reason by Pagnis in his resignation letter to the MCA on Wednesday.
READ: Pagnis resigns after Mumbai's exit from Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
“While I take responsibility for the team’s poor performance, wish to highlight that lack of preparation amidst the pandemic has been a major setback. (The) team barely got any time to prepare and practise together,” Pagnis wrote to MCA in an email.
Pagnis, a former Mumbai and Railways opening batsman, was appointed as the senior team coach on December 17, barely a fortnight before the team had to enter a biosecure hub for the inter-state T20 tournament.
It will be interesting to see the process adopted by MCA to seek Pagnis’ replacement. The rules prescribe the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) to handle the appointment process. However, it is not clear whether the CIC headed by Lalchand Rajput was reappointed during the annual general meeting on December 27.
MCA’s apex council is scheduled to meet on January 28 but with time running out, some of the MCA members feel the association should get former stalwarts involved to not only appoint a potent replacement for the remaining domestic season but also chart out a development plan for Mumbai cricket.
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