Badani named Delhi Capitals head coach; Rao replaces Ganguly as males’s Director of Cricket

Hemang Badani was earlier concerned with Sunrisers Hyderabad as a fielding and batting coach.
| Photograph Credit score: Nagara Gopal

A spate of developments occurred at Delhi Capitals on Thursday as Hemang Badani was confirmed as the brand new head coach of the lads’s staff whereas Venugopal Rao was appointed because the Director of Cricket.

Badani, who performed for India from 2000 to 2004, takes cost after former Australia captain Ricky Ponting parted methods with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise in July following seven seasons as head coach. Badani, 47, was earlier concerned with Sunrisers Hyderabad as a fielding and batting coach.

Rao, in the meantime, takes over a task carried out by Sourav Ganguly in recent times. However the appointment comes with a level of complexity — with Delhi Capitals co-owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports activities, the 2 entities have come to an understanding that the working of cricket operations of the lads’s and ladies’s groups will likely be distributed between them on a two-year rotational foundation. For the following two seasons, the lads’s outfit will likely be dealt with by GMR whereas JSW will oversee the ladies’s staff. With JSW Sports activities additionally saying Ganguly as Director of Cricket for all its operations on Thursday, it implies that the previous India captain will likely be with the ladies’s staff in 2025 and 2026 earlier than reuniting with the lads.

Each Badani and Rao have been a part of the bigger Capitals set-up in abroad franchise leagues. In January, Badani was the pinnacle coach at Dubai Capitals when it completed runner-up within the ILT20. Rao, who performed 16 ODIs for India in 2005 and 2006, was related to Dubai Capitals as mentor in 2023 earlier than turning into Director of Cricket this yr.

The upheaval on the franchise is probably a results of its disappointing performances in significantly the final two seasons. It completed second from backside in 2023 earlier than a marginal enchancment to sixth this yr. It’s one in every of solely three franchises, together with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings, to by no means win the lads’s IPL.