'Have a Royal season Daddy' - Amol Muzumdar gets the sweetest send-off from his daughter for IPL 2020

The much-awaited 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) would be held from September 19 to November 10 in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had decided to shift the tournament outside India in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals will be the first ones to reach UAE as the team left today with the players adhering to all the safety rules. Rajasthan had finished seventh on the points table in last year’s IPL and they will be looking for a better showing under their Australian captain Steve Smith. The franchise had won the inaugural edition of the cash-rich league but has failed to qualify for the final since then.

As Royals boarded the flight on Thursday for the 2020 edition of the Indian T20 league, the coaching staff and former Indian first-class cricketer Amol Muzumdar shared an adorable greeting card made by his daughter to wish him all the best for the game. Amol has been essaying the role of RR’s batting coach since 2018.

The card made by Amol’s daughter read, “Have a Royal Season Daddy, We love you”. Sharing the card and his picture in which he can be seen wearing a mask on his official Twitter handle, Muzumdar wrote, “Halla Bol !! @rajasthanroyals @IPL”

Halla Bol !! @rajasthanroyals @IPL pic.twitter.com/YIssPkEQ3q

— Amol Muzumdar (@amolmuzumdar11) August 20, 2020

An insight into Amol Muzumdar’s cricket career

Amol Muzumdar will go down in the history of Indian cricket as one of the greatest domestic cricketers who never played for India. The swashbuckling batsman had a dream debut for Mumbai in the first-class cricket as he racked up a brilliant 260 runs on his first first-class game against Haryana.

The right-handed batsman was the vice-captain of the U19 team in 1994 where he played alongside the future cricket legends Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. He was also padded up to bat next during Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli’s iconic 664-run partnership in Harris Shield tournament.

Mumbai’s unsung hero announced his retirement from competitive cricket in September 2014 after he amassed 11,167 runs from 171 matches at an average of 48.13, including 30 centuries in his domestic career.

Post his retirement, Muzumdar plied his trade in coaching and he now holds a high-performance coaching certificate from the BCCI, Cricket Australia as well as the United Kingdom through Lancashire and Yorkshire. The cricketer is currently associated with South Africa and Rajasthan Royals as their batting coach.