Former Indian player Venugopal Rao, who featured in 16 ODIs for India from 2005 to 2006, is likely to replace Sourav Ganguly as Director of Cricket in Delhi Capitals for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Alongside him, another former India player Hemang Badani will be the new head coach of Delhi as well. According to a report in Cricbuzz on Wednesday (October 16), Badani will replace Ricky Ponting as head coach as well.

However, Badani has earlier worked with Brian Lara in Sunrisers Hyderabad as well, but here it will be his first assignment as head coach of any IPL team as well. The former Tamil Nadu player also played four Tests and 40 ODIs between 2001-2004 for the Men in Blue and scored an ODI century against Australia during the 2001 bilateral series as well. Meanwhile, Badani and Venugopal are known for their strong association and as per the report, Delhi Capitals' management has granted them the freedom to pick the rest of the coaching staff as well.

Hemang Badani will be the new head coach of Delhi

Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting, who was associated with the Delhi Capitals from 2018, parted ways with the Delhi Capitals in July 2024, appointed as the new head coach of the Punjab Kings last month as well.

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“Hemang Badani will take charge as head coach for the upcoming two seasons. Additionally, Badani’s former India teammate, Venugopal Rao, will serve as the team’s director of cricket,” the Cricbuzz report stated.

“Both Venugopal and Badani have been involved with the franchise’s subsidiaries elsewhere—mainly in the ILT20 in the UAE and Major League Cricket (MLC) in the US. Incidentally, both those sides—Dubai Capitals and Seattle Orcas—are owned by Delhi Capitals co-owner Kiran Kumar Grandhi of the GMR Group. The JSW group is the other co-owner of the Delhi side, and the GMR group currently holds the reins of the franchise management that alternates between the partners every two years.”

Delhi Capitals to retain Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav

However, the Delhi Capitals are likely to retain captain Rishabh Pant (18 crore), all-rounder Axar Patel (Rs 14 crore), and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 11 crore) before the IPL 2025 mega auction. Moreover, there's a possibility that Australian top-order batter Jake-Fraser McGurk, who made his IPL debut last year, and South African player Tristan Stubbs could be picked with the Right To Match (RTM) cards if their price tags are within budget as well.