Vijay Dahiya reappointed as Delhi Ranji Trophy coach; Kohli’s childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, named State mentor

FILE PHOTO: Vijay Dahiya has replaced Sarandeep Singh as Delhi’s head coach for the upcoming season. | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Former wicketkeeper-batter Vijay Dahiya was, on Friday, appointed as head coach of the Delhi men’s senior team for the 2026-27 domestic season. The 53-year-old, who featured in two Tests and 19 ODIs for India, replaces Sarandeep Singh in the role.

After his retirement in 2006, Dahiya has had multiple stints as Delhi’s coach. Most notably, it was in his first tenure that Delhi last won the Ranji Trophy in the 2007-08 season. Since then, Delhi’s best performance has been a runner-up finish in the 2017-18 campaign. While the northern outfit has seven Ranji titles to its name, it hasn’t lived up to its illustrious history in recent years.

Dahiya will hope to put his experience to good use and resurrect Delhi’s standing. His support staff will include former pacers Parvinder Awana and Sanjeev Sharma as bowling coaches. Kshitiz Sharma and Kuldeep Rawat have been named assistant coaches.

Rajkumar Sharma, who is renowned as Virat Kohli’s childhood coach, has been given the role of mentor for the season.

The selection committee will be headed by K.P. Bhaskar. The three-member panel also comprises Manu Nayar and Praveen Gupta.

Delhi will begin its Ranji season with a Group-C duel against Bengal from October 11.