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 outfit failed to progress ahead of the league stage after finishing at the fifth spot in the points table.
They finished their season with 7 wins from 14 matches. Ahead of the new season, Delhi Capitals have roped in former England batsman Ian Bell as their assistant coach. The franchise confirmed the development on Tuesday (February 10).
Delhi Capitals’ current coaching staff 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 has decided to replace Motts with Bell.
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Ian Bell’s decorated career:
Ian Bell enjoyed a stellar career with England in international cricket. He represented England in 118 Tests, 161 ODIs as well as 8 T20Is. He scored more than 13000 runs across formats with the help of 26 centuries and 82 half-centuries.
Bell has been highly active in the coaching circuit since retiring as a player. He has previously worked with England Lions as well as the Under-19 team. In 2024, he plied his services as a batting coach for Sri Lanka during their tour of England. He also worked briefly for New Zealand in addition to serving as assistant coach of Birmingham Phoenix in the Men’s Hundred.
Delhi Capitals’ strong squad for IPL 2026:
Delhi Capitals do have a very strong squad for IPL 2026 and will be fancying their chances this year. They will be one of the contenders to qualify for the playoffs this year. They have most of their bases covered and will be desperate to perform well as they eye their maiden IPL title.
India star Axar Patel will be leading the team this season. The other big names in the squad 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 signed up highly-rated Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi Dar while also securing the services of Sri Lanka 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 squad:
Axar Patel (c), KL Rahul, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana 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, Kyle Jamieson
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