Former Indian cricketer Venugopal Rao, who played in 16 One Day Internationals for India between 2005 and 2006, is expected to take over as the Director of Cricket for Delhi Capitals in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL), replacing Sourav Ganguly. Meanwhile, his former Indian teammate Hemang Badani will become the new head coach of the team. A report from Cricbuzz on October 16th states that Delhi Capitals have finalized their new coaching staff, with Badani set to replace Ricky Ponting as head coach.
Badani has previously collaborated with Brian Lara at Sunrisers Hyderabad, but if he joins Delhi Capitals, it will be his first time as head coach of an IPL team. The former Tamil Nadu cricketer played four Test matches and 40 One Day Internationals for India from 2001 to 2004, and scored a century in an ODI against Australia during the memorable 2001 bilateral series.
Ponting, who worked with the Delhi Capitals from 2018, left the Delhi team in July 2024 and was later named the new head coach of the Punjab Kings last month.
“Hemang Badani will be the head coach for the next two seasons. Also, Badani’s former teammate, Venugopal Rao, will be the team’s director of cricket,” the Cricbuzz report said.
Badani and Venugopal are known for their strong partnership and professional understanding. According to the report, the Delhi Capitals management has given them the freedom to choose the rest of the coaching staff.
“Venugopal and Badani have worked with other teams connected to the franchise—mostly in the ILT20 in the UAE and Major League Cricket (MLC) in the US. Interestingly, both the Dubai Capitals and Seattle Orcas are owned by Kiran Kumar Grandhi, who is a co-owner of the Delhi Capitals along with the GMR Group. The JSW group is the other co-owner of the Delhi Capitals, and the GMR group is currently in charge of managing the franchise, with the management switching between the partners every two years.”
It is likely that the Delhi Capitals will keep their captain, Rishabh Pant (18 crore), all-rounder Axar Patel (14 crore), and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (11 crore) before the IPL 2025 mega auction. It is thought that Australian top-order batter Jake Fraser-McGurk, who played his first IPL season last year, and South African player Tristan Stubbs could be selected using the Right To Match (RTM) cards if their prices fit within the team’s budget.
