Former India bowler and ODI World Cup winner Munaf Patel will be the new bowling coach of Delhi Capitals (DC). The franchise made the announcement on Tuesday, with Munaf joining head coach Hemang Badani and director of cricket Venugopal Rao in the team’s new backroom for IPL 2025.
This will be Munaf’s first high-profile coaching job after retiring from competitive cricket in 2018. Since then, he has been playing in a few competitions that include retired cricketers. But before that, he made his mark as a pacer with the ability to generate reverse swing and deliver to yorkers. Apart from an international career of 86 caps across three formats between 2006 and 2011, Munaf also represented Rajasthan Royals (2008-2010), Mumbai Indians (2011-2013) and Gujarat Lions (2017). He won the 2013 IPL season with Mumbai.
Munaf replaces former Australian all-rounder James Hopes in the role. DC had amicably parted ways with Hopes and former head coach Ricky Ponting as part of a review in July 2024 and have since focused on a coaching unit made up primarily of Indians.
As part of their plans for the next three-year IPL cycle and a mega auction later this month, DC has retained bowling all-rounder Axar Patel, wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, South African batsman Tristan Stubbs and wicketkeeper- uncapped hitter Abishek Porel.
They head into the auction on November 24-25 with the third-highest purse of INR 73 crore, looking to significantly improve their performance after failing to make the playoffs in the last three IPL seasons.
