Former India captain and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has been replaced as Delhi Capitals ‘Director of Cricket’ in IPL by Venugopal Rao.
Former India captain and ex-President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will continue to be ‘Director of Cricket’ with the Delhi Capitals but he will not be associated with the side in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next couple of seasons. The DC team is jointly owned by the GMR Group and JSW Sports, who announced earlier on Thursday that each of the owners will be running the franchise for a two year period alternately in the IPL and the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
As a result, GMR Group will be running the Delhi Capitals team in the IPL 2025 and 2026 season while JSW Sports will be handling the WPL team apart from Pretoria Capitals in SA20 league in South Africa. The former have taken the decision to appoint Ganguly’s former India teammate Venugopal Rao as the IPL ‘Director of Cricket’ for the upcoming season and JSW Sports on their part announced the former Bengal southpaw as their ‘Director of Cricket’ for WPL and Pretoria Capitals.
Delhi Capitals to part ways with Sourav Ganguly; He will continue in WPL with Delhi Capitals and SA20 with Pretoria Capitals!🏏💙 pic.twitter.com/jysUBNkpH0
— CricketGully (@thecricketgully) October 17, 2024
JSW Sports founder Parth Jindal and Ganguly have always shared a strong bond, and the appointment is an extension of their personal and professional relationship. Ganguly joined Delhi Capitals in 2019 as an advisor, where he worked alongside coach Ricky Ponting, and later continued with the Capitals as Director of Cricket.
Speaking on the appointment, Jindal said, “Dada has always had a special place at JSW Sports. For us, he is family first and then the cricketing icon that he is. I’ve said this in the past and it stands true even today – he is one of the sharpest brains in cricket and we will always stand to benefit from his guidance and wisdom of the sport. I am both humbled and delighted that Dada will now head all things cricket for JSW Sports in his role as Director.”
About his new role, Ganguly said, “I’ve had the pleasure of knowing the JSW Group and the Jindal family personally and professionally which made this an easy decision. JSW Sports has been doing visionary work across the board, and I am pleased to be able to lend my experience to all its cricketing projects.”
