IPL 2025: Delhi Capitals undergo major changes as JSW, GMR strike new management deal

Delhi Capitals owners GMR Group and JSW have announced major operational changes ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The franchise owners have distributed operations of their IPL and WPL teams on a two-year rotational basis.

For the upcoming two years, GMR Group will be in charge of the cricket operations of the DC Men's squad, while JSW Sports will manage the Women's team. In 2027, the positions will be reversed, with JSW Sports taking over the men's team.

The Delhi Capitals management team will continue to oversee the franchise's business operations

But despite that, the Capitals management team will continue to oversee the franchise's business operations. The DC board will make key decisions, such as auctions, captaincy, player retention, and releases, with senior leadership's input at the GMR and JSW groups.

GMR Group was one of the founder franchises of IPL in 2008 with the team “Delhi Daredevils”. In 2018, JSW Sports and GMR Group entered a 50:50 partnership to co-own the IPL franchise and rebranded the team as Delhi Capitals.

Capitals, who have been playing IPL since 2008, are one of the few franchises in the IPL who haven't won a title yet. The franchise reached the semi-final in the first 2 seasons and made the playoffs on multiple other occasions. Their best season came in 2020 when they reached the final.

On the other hand, in the Women's Premier League, DC has been a consistent performer in the league. The franchise has made it to the final of both editions. The franchise also owns teams in ILT20 and the SA20.

GMR Group will run Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 League while JSW will run Pretoria Capitals in the SA20

The Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 League will continue to be run by GMR Group and the Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 South African league will be run by JSW Sports.

*JSW Sports, GMR Group enter operational understanding to manage multiple teams within Delhi Capitals franchise*

GMR Group and JSW Group, on Thursday, announced that it would be distributing the running of cricketing operations of the Delhi Capitals IPL (Men) and the Delhi… pic.twitter.com/pLM6U3KiBm

— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) October 17, 2024

Capitals reportedly also will be making a lot of other changes in their leadership role. It is learned that the franchise is all set to part ways with Sourav Ganguly as the director of cricket and will be replacing him with Venugopal Rao.

Delhi Capitals will be retaining Rishabh Pant but they are not eager to give him the leadership

The reports also claimed that Delhi Capitals will be retaining Rishabh Pant but they are not eager to give him the leadership. It is learned that the management has conveyed the same to the keeper-batter, and the ball is in the player's court if he wants to continue with the team or not.

Delhi Capitals has already begun the preparations for the IPL 2025 auction. They will be holding trials from next week. They have already shortlisted three venues and will finalize as per availability. The franchise would be keen to win the title next year and end their drought. Apart from Pant, they are also likely to retain Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav along with Abishek Porel in the uncapped category.