Amol Muzumdar – Mumbai cricket’s uncapped maestro stands tall for Indian women with Cricket World Cup medal

Amol Muzumdar’s journey in Indian cricket is not of a superstar but a profound study in persistence, patience and eventually a transformative leadership. For a man, who was bossing domestic cricket during his haydays with 11000-plus runs in first-class cricket, breaking into the Indian national team was certain.

Instead, he became the most celebrated Indian cricketer, who never earned a senior India cap. Unfortunately, Muzumdar belonged to that era of Indian cricket which was largely dominated the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly in the middle order.

A man who announced himself in Indian cricket with a 260-run knock on his Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai, Muzumdar was touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket. But that dream wearing an Indian jersey remained a dream. He finally called time in his career in 2014, spanning 21 years.

While a pain unfulfilled promise defined his playing career, it also became a foundation of his success as a coach, which culminated on November 2, when Harmanpreet Kaur took the winning catch to make sure Women in Blue lift the ICC World Cup for the first time after three attempts.

How Amol Muzumdar transformed Indian team?

Having taken over as the head coach in 2023, Muzumdar had to earn the trust of his players first. Notably, Muzumdar took over when the team didn’t have a full-time coach for a year. After Ramesh Powar parted ways in 2022, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Nooshin Al Khadeer served as India coaches in interim capacity.

Muzumdar was no stranger to coaching. Before taking over the reins of the Indian women’s team, he started with age-group teams at the National Cricket Academy (now the Centre of Excellence) and was also a part of Rajasthan Royals backroom staff.

It didn’t take much time for Muzumdar to win the trust of his players. His agenda was simple – win when it mattered the most. For that, if he needed to be strict, Muzumdar did that with authority as the players knew it was a good cause. In fact, after India’s four-run loss to England, Muzumdar had the toughest conversation in the dressing room, which led to a complete turnaround from Harmanpreet Kaur and her troops.

What’s next for Amol Muzumdar and India?

Clearly, Harmanpreet and Muzumdar ticked all boxes as a captain-coach duo. While the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 is a start of many, the pair has many more to achieve in the coming days with the Women’s T20 World Cup and ICC Women’s Champions Trophy in 2026 and 2027 respectively.