Delhi Capitals will be eyeing a better season in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) after failing to qualify for the playoffs last season. The national capital-based team failed to progress from the league stage after finishing fifth on the points table.
They finished their season with 7 wins from 14 matches. Ahead of the new season, Delhi Capitals have appointed former England batsman Ian Bell as their assistant coach. The franchise confirmed the development on Tuesday (February 10).
The current coaching staff of Delhi Capitals includes director of cricket Venugopal Rao, head coach Hemang Badani and bowling coach Munaf Patel. Last year, Australia’s Matthew Mott was the assistant coach of the Delhi-based franchise. With the team failing to qualify for the playoffs, the management decided to replace Motts with Bell.
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Ian Bell enjoyed an illustrious career with England in international cricket. He represented England in 118 Tests, 161 ODIs and 8 T20Is. He scored more than 13000 runs across all formats with the help of 26 centuries and 82 half-centuries.
Since retiring as a player, Bell has been highly active in the coaching circuit. He has previously worked with the England Lions as well as the Under-19 team. In 2024, he served as the batting coach for Sri Lanka during their tour of England. He also briefly worked for New Zealand in addition to serving as the assistant coach of Birmingham Phoenix in the Men’s Hundred.
Strong team of Delhi Capitals for IPL 2026:
Delhi Capitals have a very strong squad for IPL 2026 and will be looking for their chances this year. They will be one of the contenders to qualify for the playoffs this year. They have covered most of their bases and will be desperate to perform well as they eye their maiden IPL title.
India star Axar Patel will lead the team this season. Other big names in the team are KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav and Mitchell Starc.
After the completion of last season, they brought in Nitish Rana from Rajasthan Royals before strengthening their squad in the mini-auction. Delhi Capitals have signed highly-rated Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler Auqib Nabi Dar, while also securing the services of Sri Lankan star Pathum Nissanka, England’s Ben Duckett, South African duo David Miller and Lungi Ngidi as well as their former opener Prithvi Shaw.
Delhi Capitals Team:
Akshar Patel (captain), KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripura Vijay, Ajay Mandal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Nitish Rana, Auqib Nabi Dar, Pathum Nissanka, Ben Duckett, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shaw, Kylie Jameson
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