DDCA breaks all-time record, appoints 139-member coaching and support staff

Even before the 2026-27 Indian domestic season gets underway in the national capital, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has scripted an all-time record — appointing its biggest-ever coaching and support staff, comprising 139 members.

This is the third consecutive year in which the Rohan Jaitley-headed DDCA has appointed more than 100 coaching and support staff – probably a national record. Delhi’s overall results, however, have been mediocre in recent years. In 2024–25, the association named 105 people; in 2025–26, it appointed 122; and this season, it has completed a most unwanted hat-trick of unique ‘centuries’.

In these three years, the DDCA has won just two national titles, both by its women’s teams. The various men’s teams, on the other hand, have struggled for success, with their most disappointing results coming in the flagship Ranji Trophy.

Last season was the seventh consecutive time when Delhi had not progressed beyond the first round, and second occasion in five seasons when they failed to win a single win.

The abysmal record suggests that appointing a large coaching and support staff is no guarantee of success; ultimately, titles are won through strong on-field performances. From powerhouse Mumbai to smaller states with more limited resources, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Jharkhand, several teams have performed better than the DDCA in recent years.

Too many cooks

A look at the latest coaching and support staff list shows it is decisively top-heavy. There is a spate of assistant coaches, and their roles have not been defined with certain teams. Besides, at places, junior players have been given higher positions in the hierarchy than their seniors, leading to potential heartburn. The conflict of interest is also evident in some instances.

“It is all adjustments and nothing else. It is a layman’s question: What will so many coaches do and who will they guide? It seems to have become a sort of trend in cricket lately to adjust everyone. Even in the IPL, I don’t know how many people are with a team as support staff,” former Delhi captain Vinay Lamba told Patriot.

There are four assistant coaches working under senior men’s team head coach Vijay Dahiya, who makes a return as the chief coach. Dahiya was at the helm when Delhi last won the Ranji Trophy, in 2007-08.

Five men coaching youngsters, especially those who make it to the team for the first time, could leave them neither here nor there. “They would be confused, 100%. I don’t understand this concept,” said Lamba.

Curious cases

One of the assistant coaches is former
Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi player Kshitz Sharma. Interestingly, he played his last first-class match for Delhi in 2024–25 and the very next year became an assistant coach.

For the men’s Under-19 team, five coaches have also been appointed,
including head coach Rajiv Nayyar, a former Himachal Pradesh captain. Curiously, several players who have represented other states have been named in the list, a move that has drawn criticism from many DDCA members.

Mayank Sidana, chairman of the DDCA junior men’s selection committee, is one such “imported” player, as they call them. He played all his senior-level cricket for Punjab but finds a place in the DDCA setup. Interestingly, a few years ago, he was part of the DDCA’s senior selection committee which was sacked by Rohan Jaitley following various selection issues.

Bizarrely, two of the senior team’s assistant coaches are bowling coaches — former Test pacer Sanjeev Sharma and Parvinder Awana, a former India T20 International player. “There are two bowling coaches in the senior men’s team. There is no logic,” said a puzzled Lamba.

Five coaches have been named for the women’s senior team as well. Besides head coach Dipti Dhyani, there are four assistant coaches, with one coach’s role unspecified. In all, there are 18 assistant coaches across men’s and women’s categories whose roles have not been mentioned in the list.

When the DDCA crossed the 100-personnel mark in 2024-25 for the first time in its history, insiders said that Jaitley and his coalition partners wanted to consolidate their vote banks for the upcoming elections through those appointments. In the elections, held in December, this coalition swept all 12 Apex Council seats.

Then, at the time of appointing the selectors and coaching and support staff last year, it was again said that the 100-plus personnel were appointed with an eye on the 2027 full-fledged election, as per the Lodha Committee recommendations.

“However, if the National Sports Governance (NSG) Act 2025 becomes mandatory for national sports federations (NSFs) earlier than 2027, the DDCA will have to hold elections according to the new Act, once the BCCI adopts the NSG. So, you can link the jumbo list to the DDCA elections, whether they are held this year or the next,” explained a senior DDCA member.

Lessons left unlearnt

Successive dispensations at the DDCA have not learned from their mistakes. After another poor season in 2022–23, a DDCA-appointed Technical Expert Group (TEG), headed by former India Test all-rounder Madan Lal and also comprising Sunil Valson and Lamba, submitted a strongly worded report. It also suggested a range of measures to improve cricket.

In the present context, when an unusually large coaching staff has been appointed, Lamba recalled the recommendations and suggestions made by the TEG.

“In our report, we had suggested that there should be minimum people in a squad. We had said that there should not be more than 16 players and not more than three support staff members. We also said that we should not go beyond what the BCCI permits a state association [maximum players in squads] because that spoils the entire setup of a team,” he said.

“And we had suggested the bench strength within the 16-member squad should be so good that if a replacement player is required, he should be equally good. We had completely rejected the squads running into 20 or 22 members,” he emphasised.

The TEG report says that the then under-16 coach had mentioned that as many as 28 boys were “accommodated” in the playing 15 in 2022–23. The practice, however, continues, particularly in the Under-16 category, even today.