DC name ex-Ireland star as fielding coach for IPL 2026 in bid to win first trophy

Delhi Capitals have named former Ireland cricketer John Mooney as the new fielding coach ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026). Axar Patel and co. will commence their campaign by taking on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their tournament opener on April 1 at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. Mooney becomes the first Ireland player to become a part of a support staff in the IPL.

DC name Mooney as fielding coach

As per ESPNCricinfo, Mooney is all set take over the reins from Gnaneswara Rao and Anton Roux as the fielding coach ahead of the new edition of the tournament. He will join head coach Hemang Badani, bowling coach Munaf Patel and assistant coach Ian Bell in DC’s support staff for IPL 2026. Earlier this week, Kevin Pietersen announced his decision to part ways with the Capitals as the mentor.

Mooney has worked as fielding coach for Afghanistan in 2018-19 following which he has also worked with the West Indies briefly. He was also the temporary coach for the Ireland women’s cricket team in 2025. He retired from international cricket in 2015 following which he completed coaching certifications from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

DC full schedule for IPL 2026

DC squad for IPL 2026

Nitish Rana, Abishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Sameer Rizvi, T Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mukesh Kumar, David Miller, Ben Duckett, Auqib Nabi, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Sahil Parikh, Prithvi Shaw, Kyle Jamieson

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