Kevin Pietersen, a previous leader for England’s team, has been chosen as the mentor for Delhi Capitals during IPL 2025. Alongside him, the team will have Hemang Badani as head coach, Matthew Mott as assistant coach, Munaf Patel as bowling coach, and Venugopal Rao as director of cricket. The franchise, who revealed this news on their app, has not yet designated a captain for the upcoming season.
Pietersen is set to take on his inaugural coaching position in the IPL. His last appearance in the league was in 2016. According to a press release from DC, he expressed his enthusiasm for the new role as mentor for the Capitals. He eagerly anticipates joining the team, collaborating with the players, and utilizing all of his efforts to secure victory in the ultimate prize.
During his five-year stint in the IPL from 2009, Pietersen represented three different franchises. He began with Delhi, which was known as Daredevils at the time, and led them in 17 matches. In the 2009 season, he also briefly captained Royal Challengers Bangalore before taking on a full captaincy role for Daredevils in 2014. However, this was a disappointing season for the team as they finished at the bottom of the table with only two wins out of 14 games.
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In addition to leading England in 15 international matches, Pietersen was also captain for a two-game Test series in India in 2008.
Having captained Delhi in IPL 2014, Pietersen has since developed a close bond with Kiran Kumar Grandhi, the chairman of GMR who co-owns the DC franchise. In 2020, he played a significant role in facilitating a major partnership between GMR and Hampshire county cricket club. They also shared an outing to England’s T20I match against Australia at the Utilita Bowl in 2024.
In addition to the IPL, Pietersen has also played in other renowned leagues such as the BBL, PSL, and CPL. In total, he has participated in 200 T20 matches, recording an average of 33.89 and a strike rate of approximately 137 while amassing a total of 5695 runs.
After their sole appearance in the IPL final and a sixth-place finish in 2024, DC entered last year’s auction with the largest budget among all ten teams. This was due to them releasing several high-profile players and keeping only Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, and Abishek Porel on their roster. They then bolstered their team by acquiring top talents such as KL Rahul, Harry Brook, Faf du Plessis, and Mitchell Starc.
Badani, Rao, and Munaf, members of the Indian support staff, had recently led Dubai Capitals to victory in the ILT20 championship. This marked a significant achievement for the Capitals, as it was their first time winning a trophy in both men’s and women’s tournaments on a global scale.
