Delhi Capitals has initiated talks with former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh regarding a possible coaching role for the upcoming Indian Premier League season.
Sportstar understands that the franchise, which struggled in the last couple of editions of the IPL, is keen on bringing Yuvraj – one of the icons of Indian cricket – on board, even though a final decision is awaited.
Earlier, reports claimed that Yuvraj was in contention to replace Ashish Nehra as the coach of Gujarat Titans. However, sources indicated that Nehra is likely to continue as the head coach, and the Titans are in conversation with a couple of other former India cricketers to fill in for Gary Kirsten, who is now the head coach of Pakistan.
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Even though Yuvraj has no prior coaching experience, he has worked closely with Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma and a few other cricketers from Punjab over the last few years. Following the exit of their long-time head coach Ricky Ponting, the Capitals are looking at bolstering their batting department under the guidance of the vastly experienced Yuvraj, who has featured in 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is. He was also a key member of India's ODI World Cup-winning team in 2011.
The Delhi Capitals reached the final of the IPL in 2020 before going down to Mumbai Indians in the summit clash. In the following season, it made it to the play-offs, but things went downhill from the 2022 season, failing to reach the playoffs for three successive seasons. And, with Ponting's exit, the franchise is planning an overhaul in its coaching department, with former India captain Sourav Ganguly at the helm as the director of cricket.
While there were speculations that Ganguly could double up as the head coach and the director of cricket, it is likely that the franchise may eventually hand over the coaching responsibility to someone else while Ganguly will look after the overall operations.
However, it will be interesting to see whether the ongoing discussions with Yuvraj would have a positive outcome.