IPL 2025: Delhi Capitals appoint Pietersen as team mentor

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen was on Thursday appointed mentor of Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2025.

The 44-year-old thus returns to the side he captained in 2014.

This marks Pietersen's first coaching assignment in the IPL, where he featured as a player from 2009 to 2016.

"I'm so excited to come home to Delhi! I have the fondest memories of my time with Delhi. I love the city, I love the fans and I'll do everything I can to support the franchise in our quest for the title in 2025," Pietersen said on X.

A veteran of 200 T20s with 5695 runs, Pietersen appeared in 36 IPL matches scoring 1001 runs across his stints with Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Pune franchise.

At Delhi Capitals, he will join Hemang Badani, who was named head coach in October last year,

assistant coach Matthew Mott, bowling coach Munaf Patel and director of cricket Venugopal Rao.

Delhi Capitals have never won the IPL title, they reached the final in 2020 where they lost to Mumbai Indians.

They finished sixth in the previous edition, following which they let go of their skipper Rishabh Pant. They retained Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel.

At the auction last year, Delhi Capitals went in with the biggest purse as they brought in K L Rahul, Harry Brook, Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Starc to their roster.

They have made major changes to their coaching staff ahead of the new season.

They brought in former India player Badani as head coach in place of legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting, while also replacing Australia's James Hopes with ex-India pacer and member of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad, Munaf, as their bowling coach.

Delhi Capitals will open their IPL campaign against Lucknow Super Giants in Visakhapatnam on March 24.

• ICC Champions Trophy 2025