The former Ireland all-rounder John Mooney has been appointed as the new fielding coach of the Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2026 season. He is the first person from Ireland to be part of the IPL franchise’s coaching staff.

He will be joining Hemang Badani’s coaching setup and will be closely working with the DC 2026 squad for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League. The DC’s support staff consists of Munaf Patel (Bowling coach) and Ian Bell (assistant coach).

Mooney will be taking over from Gnaneswara Rao and Anton Roux, who served as the fielding coach, bringing in a rich experience in coaching.

He has also served as a fielding coach for Afghanistan from 2018 to 2019. He has also worked with the West Indies men’s team in 2019 and was a temporary coach for the Ireland women’s team earlier last year.

During his playing career between 2006 and 2015, John Mooney was a left-handed batter and right-arm bowler, representing Ireland in 64 ODIs and 27 T20Is. He has also represented three ODI World Cups (2007, 2011 and 2015) and two T20 World Cups (2009 and 2010).

After retiring from international cricket in 2015, John Mooney completed Level 1, 2 and 3 coaching certifications from England and Wales Cricket Board.

Delhi Capitals have never won an IPL trophy, and John Mooney’s inclusion as fielding coach is considered a big boost for the side ahead of the IPL 2026 season.

Delhi Capitals finished in the fifth position of the IPL 2025 points table and will be aiming for a title hunt in the upcoming season.

With less than two weeks before the start of the season, the side has started its preparations for the return of the cricketing festival.

As per the IPL 2026 schedule, Delhi Capitals will play their first match against Lucknow Super Giants on April 01 at Ekana Cricket Stadium B Ground, Ardonamau.

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