Yuvraj Singh to join Delhi Capitals as batting coach

Former white-ball stalwart Yuvraj Singh is all set to join Delhi Capitals as its batting coach for the 2027 season, IPL sources tracking the development said on Friday.

Yuvraj, India’s player of the tournament in both 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup, has worked as a personal mentor for current India skipper Shubman Gill and world’s No. 1 ranked T20 batter Abhishek Sharma in recent years.

Even Rishabh Pant had sought Yuvraj’s advice when he underwent a slump in form.

The assignment with Delhi Capitals will be Yuvraj’s first coaching assignment in the cash-rich league.

Yuvraj played last of his 132 IPL matches in 2019 for Mumbai Indians before calling time on his competitive career.

“There will be complete overhaul of coaching staff in Delhi Capitals as JSW will be running the management for the 2027-28 seasons as per agreement. The trio comprising Venugopal Rao, Hemang Badani and Munaf Patel, who were appointed by co-owners GMR, will make way for new support staff.

“Sourav Ganguly will take over as Director of Cricket and Yuvraj will join as the batting coach,” the IPL source said.

As per the agreement, co-owners GMR and JSW take turns in managing the affairs of the men’s team for two years.

DC could not qualify for the play-offs in last two seasons and their planning, strategy and choice of players at the auction left a lot to be desired.

It is understood that Ganguly, who has had a big influence on Yuvraj as his first international captain, wanted the flamboyant southpaw on board.

While Ganguly as the Director of Cricket also looked after JSW’s SA20 franchise Pretoria Capitals and also DC Women, Yuvraj will only have to look after the DC men’s team.

It will be interesting to see whether Rishabh Pant, who is all set to leave Lucknow Super Giants, can be traded by Delhi Capitals in lieu of one or two players from the existing set-up.