IPL 2026: Delhi Capitals appoint Ian Bell as assistant coach for upcoming season
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Ian Bell will work with Delhi in IPL 2026.
Delhi Capitals (DC) will aim for their maiden title in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Despite being part of the tournament since the inaugural edition in 2008, DC have never won an IPL trophy.
Their best performance came in the 2019 season, where they finished runners-up after losing to the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the final. All 10 teams have started preparations for IPL 2026. The upcoming season will begin in the last week of March.
In the mini-auction held in December 2025, all teams selected some star players in their squads. However, the core squad of each team remains the same, as most of the franchise retained many of their players.
Axar Patel led the Delhi Capitals in the previous edition. They started well with four consecutive wins and were initially at the top of the points table. However, as the tournament progressed, they failed to maintain their winning momentum, eventually finishing 5th in the points table and failing to qualify for the playoffs.
Capitals appoint Ian Bell as assistant coach
Ahead of the IPL 2026, Axar Patel & Co. have made a big addition to their support staff. Former England batter Ian Bell has been appointed as an assistant coach for the upcoming season.
This will be Bell’s first stint in a coaching role in the IPL. However, he has served as a support staff member in other franchise T20I leagues and national teams. In August 2024, he was appointed as Sri Lanka’s batting coach for their three-match test series against England.
Towards the end of 2023, he served as a consultant assistant coach for New Zealand during their white-ball tours of England and Bangladesh and the ODI World Cup.
In the Big Bash League 2023-24 season, he joined as the assistant coach of Melbourne Renegades. He also worked as an assistant coach during the 2021-22 season for Hobart Hurricanes. He also held a coaching stint with Chennai Braves in the Abu Dhabi T10 league.
In DC, Bell will work with head coach Hemang Badani. Munaf Patel is the bowling coach of DC, while Biju George, Gnandeswara Rao, and Anton Roux are the fielding coaches of the side.
Who has been appointed as the assistant coach of the Delhi Capitals for IPL 2026?
Ian Bell has been appointed as the assistant coach of the DC for the upcoming season.
Who is the captain of Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026?
Axar Patel is the captain of Axar Patel in IPL 2026.
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.