Hemang Badani to take over as Delhi Capitals head coach

Former India batter Hemang Badani will take over as the new head coach at Delhi Capitals (DC) for IPL 2025. Along with Badani, DC have also appointed former India batter Venugopal Rao as the director of cricket.

While Badani replaces Ricky Ponting, who amicably parted ways recently after seven seasons as head coach, Rao takes over the role performed in the past few years by former India captain Sourav Ganguly. Both appointments are part of the decision taken by the DC ownership to overhaul the coaching staff and the overall running structure of the franchise which has never won the IPL. The franchise has also decided not to renew the contract with Pravin Amre, who served as assistant coach and talent scout since 2014.

“With the mega auction around the corner, my job, in collaboration with the rest of our coaching staff, is cut out,” Badani said in a franchise release. “I can’t wait to get started.”

ESPNcricinfo has learnt the recruitment drive to bolster the coaching bench will continue with more assistant coaches and mentor to be appointed.

As part of the restructuring, the co-owners of DC – the GMR Group and JSW Sports – will swap the operational leadership roles every two years for their teams in the IPL and the WPL; it means the GMR Group will take over the men’s team for the next two seasons and JSW Sports the women’s team for 2025 and 2026. Consequently, Ganguly will take over as director of cricket in the WPL for the next two seasons. Ganguly will switch back to the IPL from 2027 when JSW Sports will be back in charge. In a media statement on Thursday, the franchise said “key decisions like auctions, captaincy, player release and retentions of both teams will be made by the Delhi Capitals’ board, and will be decided mutually by senior leadership of both groups.”

Why Hemang Badani?
While the appointment of Badani, who played four Tests and 40 ODIs, is expected to arouse curiosity, the former Tamil Nadu captain has been a successful coach in the domestic T20 circuit. After being part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squads in the initial few years, Badani was the head coach at Chepauk Super Gillies, who have won three TNPL titles. With them, Badani played a key role in the development of young players like R Sai Kishore, the current Tamil Nadu captain.

That experience played a role in Badani joining Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) as fielding coach cum scout in IPL 2022. Badani has also had coaching experience in overseas T20 leagues: he was assistant coach with Sunrisers Eastern Cape in 2023, when they won the inaugural SA20 title; he was also a coaching consultant for Jaffna Kings when the franchise won the Lanka Premier League in the latest edition.

Badani has also been part of teams under the Capitals umbrella in overseas franchise leagues. Set to turn 48 next month, Badani was the head coach at Dubai Capitals (owned by GMR Group) who finished runners-up this January in the ILT20. Recently, he was also a coaching consultant for Seattle Orcas in the MLC (Major League Cricket), another franchise where GMR Group has a stake.

Rao, who played 16 ODIs between 2005 and 2006, was part of Deccan Chargers’ IP- winning squad in 2009 and has also been part of Dubai Capitals, first as mentor in the inaugural season and then as director of cricket.

Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo