Southern Brave have appointed Hemang Badani as the head coach of their men's team, with Ian Bell set to serve as his assistant for the upcoming season of The Hundred. This comes just a month after Bell was roped in as Badani's deputy at the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. DC's owners GMR acquired 49% stake in Southern Brave last July.

Badani took over the reigns at DC only last season where the team started very well before falling short of the playoffs spot. Badani, who has a rich coaching experience in franchise cricket, has also been involved in some coaching capacity with other GMR-owned teams - in the MLC (Seattle Orcas) and ILT20 (Dubai Capitals).

Bell meanwhile, brings local know-how, having worked previously with England's U19 and Lions side. The former England international also worked as the batting coach of Sri Lanka's Test team on their tour of England in 2024. He also had a brief stint with the New Zealand men's team during their tour of England before the 2023 ODI World Cup. Within the Hundred setup, he was once the assistant coach of Birmingham Phoenix.

Southern Brave were the inaugural Men's Hundred champions in 2021 and were runners-up in 2024. But last year, they lost half their games and failed to progress to the knockouts.