The Delhi Capitals franchise has announced some major operational changes ahead of the IPL 2025 season on Thursday, October 17. The GMR and JSW Groups, owners of the Capitals franchise, announced a strategic decision to alternate the management of cricket operations for Delhi Capitals’ IPL (Men) and WPL (Women) teams on a two-year rotational basis. This initiative aims to enhance operational efficiency across both teams within the Delhi Capitals franchise.

For the next two years, GMR Group will oversee the cricketing operations of the Delhi Capitals Men’s team, while JSW Sports will manage the operations of the Women’s team. In 2027, the roles will reverse, with JSW Sports taking charge of the Men’s team. Despite this rotation, the franchise’s business operations will continue to be handled by the Delhi Capitals management team. Key decisions, including auctions, captaincy, player retention, and releases, will be made by the Delhi Capitals’ board, with input from senior leadership of both GMR and JSW groups.

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GMR Group, one of the founding owners of the IPL in 2008, initially launched the team as “Delhi Daredevils.” In 2018, GMR partnered with JSW Sports in a 50:50 ownership deal, leading to the team’s rebranding as Delhi Capitals.

Since 2008, the franchise has been a consistent participant in the IPL, reaching the semi-finals in its first two seasons and making several playoff appearances. In 2019, Delhi Capitals recorded their best-ever finish as second runners-up, followed by their first appearance in an IPL final in 2020.

The Delhi Capitals Women’s team, acquired in 2023, has already made a strong impact, reaching the final in both seasons of the Women’s Premier League so far.

Alongside the Indian teams, GMR will continue to manage the Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 League, while JSW Sports will oversee the Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 South African league.

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is looking at the last week of November to host the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction and November 30 has emerged as the likely date. Nothing has been finalised on the date yet but the last week of the month has been identified as the ideal window. The discussions are underway on the venue and while many options are being discussed, there is a possibility of the Indian cricket board hosting it in Dubai.
The ten franchises are already in a huddle ahead of the mega auction and are in the final stages of sealing their retentions.IPL 2024 finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are leading the way as they have already identified Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins and Abhishek Sharma as their three priorities and Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy are also in the scheme of things.
Delhi Capitals, too, have Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as their top three picks but there is no clarity on captaincy yet. They have rejigged the support staff with Hemang Badani set to become the head coach and Venugopal Rao replacing Sourav Ganguly as Director of Cricket. Additionally, they have roped in Munaf Patel as the bowling coach and formal announcements are likely in the coming weeks.
Continuity remains as IPL giants Mumbai Indians, who were the clear winners in this new retention policy, are set to retain Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah. Pandya is slated to continue as the captain as the five-time winners, under coach Mahela Jayawardene, would look to return to winning ways after disappointing outings in the last cycle.

The upcoming mega auction promises to be a very exciting affair as the new rules will keep the franchises on their toes. The modified version of the Right To Match card, which is set to be extensively used by most teams, is likely to be the show-stopper.
What’s the new RTM
* The highest bidder will be given one final opportunity to raise their bid for a player before the team holding the RTM card can exercise their right
* For example, if Team 1 holds the RTM for Player X and Team 2 has placed the highest bid of Rs. 6 Cr, then Team 1 will be first asked if they will exercise RTM, if Team 1 agrees, then Team 2 will have the chance to increase their bid. If Team 2 raises their bid to Rs. 9 Cr, then Team 1 can use the RTM and acquire Player X for Rs. 9 Cr. If Team 2 chooses not to raise the bid and keeps it at Rs. 6 Cr, Team 1 can use the RTM and get Player X for Rs. 6 Cr.