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.

DC co-owner Parth Jindal said that they were definitely retaining captain Rishabh Pant ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 auctions. In an interview with news agency IANS, Jindal said that DC had multiple good players that they would like to retain, but the final list will be made after discussions with their Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly.

DC finished 6th in the previous season of the Indian Premier League. Despite not making it into the playoffs, the team had several top young performers, including Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs and Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Speaking to the media, Jindal hinted at the potential retentions, however stressed that apart from Rishabh Pant, none of the decisions were final.

“Yes, we definitely have to retain. We have some very good players in our team. The rules have just come out, so after discussing with GMR and our director of cricket, Sourav Ganguly, decisions will be made,” Parth Jindal told IANS in an interview.

“Rishabh Pant will definitely be retained. We also have Axar Patel, who is excellent, Tristan Stubbs, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav, Abishek Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, all very good players in our team,” he further added on the matter of retentions.

IPL 2025 retention rules: Details

“We’ll see what happens in the auction. But first, as per the rule, we can retain six players. After discussions, we will proceed with the auction and see what happens,” Jindal concluded.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India made several rules prioritising Indian players. The rules are expected to help young Indian players fighting for a place in the playing XI of the IPL sides.

LATEST IPL RETENTION RULES

1. The IPL franchises can retain a total of 6 players from their existing squad. This can be either via retention or by using the Right to Match (RTM) option.

2. It is at the discretion of the IPL franchise to choose their combination for Retentions and RTMs. The 6 retentions / RTM’s can have a maximum of 5 capped players (Indian & Overseas) and a maximum of 2 uncapped players.

3. The auction purse for the franchises has been set at INR 120 Crore for IPL 2025. The total salary cap will now consist of auction purse, incremental performance pay and match fees. Previously in 2024, the total salary cap (auction purse + incremental performance pay) was Rs. 110 Crs which will now be Rs. 146 Crs (2025), Rs. 151 Crs (2026) and Rs. 157 Crs (2027).

4. A match fee has been introduced for the first time in the history of IPL. Each Playing member (Including the Impact Player) will get a match fee of INR 7.5 Lakhs per match. This will be in addition to his contracted amount.

5. Any Overseas Player will have to register for the Big Auction. In case the overseas player doesn’t register, then he will be ineligible to register in the following year’s player auction.

6. Any player who registers in the player auction and after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, will get banned from participating in the tournament and player auction for 2 Seasons.

7. A capped Indian player will become uncapped, if the player has in the last five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant Season is held, not played in the starting XI in International Cricket (Test match, ODI, Twenty20 International) or does not have a Central Contract with BCCI. This will be applicable for Indian Players only.

8. The Impact Player Regulation will continue for the 2025 to 2027 cycle.

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