Delhi Capitals continues overhauling its backroom staff ahead of the IPL 2025, as they appointed former World Cup winner Munaf Patel as the new bowling coach. DC has also changed the core of its coaching staff, recently appointing Hemang Badani as the new head coach in place of Ricky Ponting and Venugopal Rao as the Director of Cricket.
This is Munaf Patel’s first high-profile coaching job since retiring from competitive cricket in 2018. Monaf will replace James Hopes, the former Australian all-rounder, in the Delhi Capitals’ new-look coaching staff.
Munaf Patel’s career spanned from 2006 to 2011, during which he earned 86 international caps for Team India across all formats. In the 86 matches he played for India, Munaf picked up 125 wickets at an average of 32.30 and a strike rate of 46.9.
Apart from international cricket, the medium pacer also featured in the IPL for three different teams. From 2008 to 2010, Munaf played for the Rajasthan Royals, then he spent three seasons with the Mumbai Indians from 2011 to 2013, winning the IPL in his last season with MI. Munaf Patel’s last season in the IPL was 2017. In this season, he played for the newly formed Gujarat Lions.
Before the 2025 Mega Auction, Delhi made strong decisions to compete for the title in the upcoming season, like replacing the head coach and not retaining captain Rishabh Pant. Heading into the mega auction, Delhi will have the third-largest purse of 73 crores INR. So, despite taking difficult calls, the future of DC is still expected to take shape in the auction room.
