Omkar Salvi appointed Mumbai senior men’s team head coach

Salvi, the elder brother of India pacer Aavishkar, represented Railways in a solitary one-day in domestic cricket.

FILE PHOTO: Salvi has developed a reputation of being one of the most sincere and updated coaches in the domestic arena.

Omkar Salvi, the former Mumbai bowling coach, who has been working as the assistant bowling coach for Kolkata Knight Riders for a long time, has been appointed as the head coach of Mumbai’s senior men’s team for the forthcoming domestic season. Salvi has thus replaced Amol Muzumdar, the Mumbai stalwart, who was at the helm for two seasons.

Salvi, the elder brother of India pacer Aavishkar, represented Railways in a solitary one-day in domestic cricket. But he has developed a reputation of being one of the most sincere and updated coaches in the domestic arena.

“Omkar has the experience and the expertise, is updated with the nuances in coaching techniques and psyche of modern-day cricket, so he was our unanimous choice to take Mumbai cricket forward,” Lalchand Rajput, the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) chief, told Sportstar on Monday.

Rajput’s CIC interviewed seven candidates, including Salvi and former Mumbai coaches Vinayak Samant and Sameer Dighe, last week before forwarding its recommendation to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) officials. MCA secretary Ajinkya Naik announced Dighe’s appointment as the Academy Head of MCA’s Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

Salvi was associated as the bowling coach of Mumbai’s team during Chandrakant Pandit’s two years as Mumbai coach in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Besides filling in the big boots of Muzumdar, Salvi will also have to chart out a roadmap to help Mumbai regain its reputation of domestic powerhouse. During Muzumdar’s stint, Mumbai made it to the Ranji Trophy final in 2021-22 and emerged Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champion in 2022-23.