Vijay Dahiya replaces Sarandeep Singh as Delhi men's head coach

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Vijay Dahiya has been appointed as the head coach of the Delhi men's team for the upcoming 2026-27 domestic season. Dahiya replaces Sarandeep Singh, who coached them for the past two seasons. Interestingly, it was the DDCA Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), headed by Sarandeep, that recommended Dahiya's name.

Former batter Dipti Dhyani will continue as Delhi Women's head coach with Mandeep Kaur, Gautam Vadhera, Ashish Malhotra and Sonu Sharma as assistant coaches. Delhi won the Senior Women's One Day Trophy last season by beating Railways in the final.

This will be Dahiya's fourth stint as Delhi's head coach. Delhi's last Ranji Trophy win came in 2007-08 when he was at the helm and Gautam Gambhir captained them. Dahiya later served as head coach during the 2012-13 season and again from 2014 to 2016.

Dahiya brings extensive coaching experience to the role. In 2021-22, he oversaw Uttar Pradesh's run to the Ranji Trophy semi-final. In the IPL, he has worked as an assistant coach for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, and was with Gujarat Titans in IPL 2026. In the recently concluded Delhi Premier League, he coached the Purani Dilli-6 franchise.

Former Indian fast-bowling duo of Parvinder Awana and Sanjeev Sharma will be the bowling coaches while Kshitiz Sharma and Kuldeep Rawat have been named Dahiya's assistants.

KP Bhaskar has been retained as the chief selector, with Manu Nayar and Praveen Gupta serving as members of the selection committee. Additionally, Rajkumar Sharma, childhood coach of Virat Kohli and former Delhi bowling coach, has been appointed as the team mentor. He will mentor not only the senior squad but also various other age-group teams too.

In the last Ranji Trophy season Delhi managed only a single victory out of seven matches and crashed out in the group stage. While the team reached the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, they similarly exited the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the group stage.

Due to renovation work at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi will play their home Ranji matches at the Palam Air Force Ground. The upgrades are being carried out to improve the drainage system of the Arun Jaitley Stadium by converting the soil-based outfield into a sand-based one. The venue recently hosted three T20Is between India and Afghanistan last week.

In the first phase of the Ranji season, Delhi will host Gujarat on October 18 and Services on November 2. They open their Ranji Trophy campaign with an away fixture against Bengal in Kalyani.

A men's ODI between India and Sri Lanka is also scheduled to be held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on December 13. If the renovation work is not completed by then, the match may be shifted to an alternative venue.