Kieron Pollard and Rashid Khan on Friday will take over the captaincy duties for MI Emirates and MI Cape Town teams in ILT20 and SA20 respectively, said MI Global in an official announcement on Friday.
Pollard-led MI Emirates, will feature T20 stars like Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Trent Boult, and Imran Tahir. They will debut in the ILT20, set to begin on January 13 and end on February 12, with 34 matches to be played across three venues in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah.
Pollard, the former West Indies captain in ODIs and T20Is, had earlier announced that he had retired from the IPL as a player to be the batting coach of five-time IPL winning team Mumbai Indians. Rashid, the leg-spin all-rounder, had quit as captain of Afghanistan shortly after T20 World Cup 2021 was announced.
The Rashid-captained MI Cape Town comprises of a solid local South African core of Kagiso Rabada, Dewald Brevis, Rassie van der Dussen, along with international stars like Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone.
They will also play in the opening game of SA20 on January 10 against Paarl Royals. "We're extremely pleased to announce our captains for our extended MI Global one family for the cricketing season 2023. We have an amazing mix of talent, experience, and passion in both our captains."
"I'm convinced that Polly and Rashid will take forward the MI ethos and MI brand of cricket. Both will work with our excellent coaching teams to infuse the MI spirit in MI Emirates and MI Cape Town and win the hearts of cricket fans in UAE and South Africa," said Akash M. Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm, who also own Mumbai Indians.
Mumbai Indians went global with the addition of teams in the T20 cricket leagues of South Africa and UAE earlier this year. Both teams feature some of the best players from across global cricket and will look to replicate the MI ethos and focus that has helped Mumbai Indians become one of the most successful franchises in global cricket.