Munaf Patel, the former India bowler and ODI World Cup winner, 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-look backroom staff for IPL 2025.
This will be Munaf’s first high-profile coaching gig after retiring from competitive cricket in 2018. Since then, he has been playing in a few competitions comprising retired cricketers. But before that, he made his mark as a pacer with the skill to generate reverse swing and deliver 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 Australia allrounder James Hopes in the role. DC had amicably parted ways with Hopes – and former head coach Ricky Ponting as part of an overhaul in July 2024 and have since focused on a coaching unit made up primarily of Indians.
As part of their plans for the upcoming three-year IPL cycle and a mega auction later this month, DC have retained spin-bowling allrounder Axar Patel, wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, South African batter Tristan Stubbs and uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel.
They head into the auction on November 24 and 25 with the third-highest purse of INR 73 crore, looking to significantly improve their performances after failing to make the playoffs for the last three IPL seasons.
