Mohit Sharma returns to Chennai Super Kings as bowling coach on Zaheer Khan's recommendation

Chennai Super Kings have appointed former India seamer Mohit Sharma as their bowling coach for IPL 2027, replacing Eric Simons on the recommendation of new head coach Zaheer Khan

The appointment was confirmed by Chennai's chief executive Kasi Viswanathan, and is the first change to the franchise's backroom staff since Zaheer's own appointment was announced on 21 September.

Sharma returns to the club where he had the best season of his career, winning the Purple Cap in 2014, and does so less than a year after retiring from all formats.

Simons, the South African who had been part of the Chennai coaching set-up for years, makes way.

Zaheer's first recruit

"Mohit will join CSK as our new bowling coach. His name was recommended by our head coach Zaheer Khan," Viswanathan said.

More changes are expected before the season begins. "The next set of coaching staff will also be recruited on Zaheer's recommendation in the coming weeks," the chief executive added.

Zaheer was handed a broad remit when he took the job, covering the support staff, the auction strategy and the balance between senior players and younger Indian talent.

He arrives with eight years of front-office experience at Mumbai Indians, where he was director of cricket from 2018 to 2024, and a reputation built on India's 2011 World Cup win.

A Purple Cap season in yellow

Sharma played four seasons for Chennai across two stints, from 2013 to 2015 and again in 2019.

The middle one made his name. He took 23 wickets in 16 matches at 19.65 in 2014, enough for the Purple Cap and for a place in India's limited-overs side.

Across his whole IPL career he played 120 matches and took 134 wickets at 26.21, a return spread over five franchises.

Chennai reached the playoffs in each of his first three seasons at the club, and were runners-up in two of them.

From Gujarat's death overs to retirement

Kings XI Punjab held his registration from 2016 to 2018 and Delhi Capitals signed him in 2020, but his second peak came at Gujarat Titans.

He took 41 wickets in two seasons there, including 27 in 2023 — tied for the second-highest tally of that tournament — in the year Gujarat lost the final to Chennai.

Sharma played his last IPL season for Delhi Capitals in 2025 and announced his retirement from all cricket on 3 December 2025.

For India he played 26 ODIs and eight T20Is between 2013 and 2015, taking 31 and six wickets, and was part of MS Dhoni's squad at the 2015 World Cup.

Eric Simons makes way

Simons has been among the longest-serving members of the Chennai staff, and was one of two bowling coaches the franchise listed last season, alongside Sridharan Sriram.

He was also India's bowling consultant, from January 2010 to February 2012, and had coached South Africa before that.

His departure is the clearest sign yet that Zaheer intends to rebuild the coaching group rather than inherit it.

A rebuild before the Goa auction

Chennai finished eighth in IPL 2026, with six wins from 14 matches and 12 points, and missed the playoffs for a second season in a row.

Stephen Fleming stepped down in July, ending an 18-year association that began as a player in 2008 and brought five IPL titles and two Champions League T20 trophies from the coaching box.

Zaheer's first competitive test comes at the player auction, which the IPL has confirmed for Goa in December, the last of the current 2023-27 cycle.

Chennai will go into that room with a bowling attack to rebuild and, for the first time since 2009, without Fleming running the coaching group.

Sharma joins a coaching staff that is still being assembled, and one that will be judged on what Chennai buy in December.

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