IPL 2025: Kevin Pietersen officially named Delhi Capitals' mentor

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has been named as the mentor of Delhi Capitals for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League. It is a big decision from the new management of Capitals which also brought in a new coaching staff for this season.

Kevin Pietersen, who had previously represented the franchise as a player when it was known as Delhi Daredevils, will begin his role from the IPL 2025 season. He played for Delhi in 2012 and 2014. He was also the team's captain in IPL 2014 when the team finished at the bottom of the table.

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Delhi Capitals rope in Kevin Pietersen as their mentor

BREAKING!

Delhi Capitals announce Kevin Pietersen as their mentor for IPL 2025! pic.twitter.com/SPmH7RtlHl

— India Today Sports (@ITGDsports) February 27, 2025

Kevin Pietersen does not have any previous experience of working in a coaching staff. It will be his first coaching assignment and possibly a start of a new career for him. The 44-year-old has served as a commentator and a cricket expert after he retired from professional cricket.

Pietersen shares a good relationship with DC owner Kiran Kumar Grandhi. He expressed his excitement for the role and recalled his memories with the franchise.

Pietersen last played the IPL in 2016 when he represented Rising Pune Supergiants. He played for three franchises in the IPL for five seasons. He also served as the captain in 17 matches. Before leading Daredevils in 2014, he had led Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2009

It will be interesting to see how he goes about his work but the Capitals are likely to gain a lot of knowledge from his immese experience of playing international cricket and franchise cricket.

Kevin Pietersen's incredible T20I numbers

Pietersen might have retired but was known as one of the most dynamic players that England ever produced. The right-hander was known to thwart the traditional cricket at a time when the players were told to play with less amount of risks.

He is also known as the inventor of the 'Switch Hit'. He gained a lot of popularity due to his ability to manifacture different shots which proved to be very useful in T20 cricket.

Pietersen has stellar numbers in T20I cricket. He 37 T20Is and scored 1176 runs at an average of 37.93 and a strike rate of 141.51. He also played a key role in England's T20 World Cup win in 2010.

New coaching staff for Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals brought in a new coaching staff under the head coach Hemang Badani, who replaced Ricky Ponting in this role. Former India cricketer Venugopal Rao is the team's Director of Cricket.

Former England head coach Matthew Mott was named the team's assistant coach recently while former India quick Munaf Patel will serve as the bowling coach.

Despite all the announcements, Delhi Capitals remains one of the two two teams not to announce their captain so far. Axar Patel is the frontrunner for the role but they also have other options like KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis for the role.