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IPL 2025: Badani, Venugopal Join Delhi Capitals Support Staff After Ricky Ponting's Exit

Hemang Badani replaces Ricky Ponting [Source: IPLT20.COM, @DelhiCapitals/x]Hemang Badani replaces Ricky Ponting [Source: IPLT20.COM, @DelhiCapitals/x]

Delhi Capitals has appointed former Indian cricketer Hemang Badani as the new head coach of the franchise, replacing outbound Ricky Ponting in the process. Ponting recently parted ways with the franchise after his seven-year stay to join Punjab Kings.

While Badani will serve as the new head coach of the Delhi Capitals, his former Indian teammate and close coaching associate Venugopal Rao will serve as the team’s director of cricket.

DC find key staff members before IPL 2025 mega auction

Delhi Capitals’ search for its key support staff members concluded after they appointed Hemang Badani and Venugopal Rao as team’s head coach and new director of cricket respectively. As reported by Cricbuzz, the Capitals management seems to have granted the two former Indian cricketers’ complete freedom for selecting the rest of the coaching staff.

Both Badani and Venugopal have been involved with the franchise’s subsidiaries in the ILT20 as well as in the USA’s MLC competition. In ILT20, the two ex-cricketers have helmed Dubai Capitals, and in the MLC, both have supervised Seattle Orcas. Notably, the Dubai Capitals and Seattle Orcas franchises are owned GMR Group’s Kiran Kumar Grandhi, also the co-owner of Delhi Capitals.

Among the players, recent reports indicate that the Delhi Capitals franchise will retain the likes of Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.

The mega auction is slated to be held either in late-November or early-December later this year, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is currently zeroing in on an international venue for the bidding event. As per reports, Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh is currently under consideration as a possible mega auction venue.