IPL 2020 | Stand named after him by DDCA, Gautam Gambhir now interested in buying stake in Delhi Capitals
Former India cricketer and current East Delhi MP, Gautam Gambhir is in talks to buy a stake in IPL's Delhi franchise. According to reports, the former Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) player is looking to buy a 10 percent stake in the Delhi franchise from the GMR group, costing Rs 100 crore for co-ownership.
JSW group own 50 percent stakes of Delhi Capitals while the other half is owned by the GMR group. JSW paid Rs 550 crores last year to become the co-owners of the franchise.
Gautam Gambhir played domestic cricket for Delhi throughout his career and captained the side successfully. On December 3, a stand in Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium (earlier known as Feroz Shah Kotla) was named after the former Kolkata Knight Riders' 2-time IPL winning captain. However, Gambir had expressed his displeasure with the current situation at the The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), which according to him is in a state of a mess due to which the process of naming the stand after him took longer than expected.
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The former India player was referring to the chaotic presidential reign of former senior journalist Rajat Sharma. Appointed as the DDCA head in July last year, Rajat Sharma had to face a lot of criticism along-with other DDCA office bearers for infighting and mismanagement. Gambhir had questioned the qualifications of the senior selection panels comprisinAnil Bhardwaj, Vineet Jain, and Atul Wassan.
Talking to reporters, Gambhir had gone on to accuse former DDCA president Rajat Sharma of delaying the process of naming the stand after his name and said:
"I think the president can answer this question better because earlier I was told that stand will be unveiled during the India versus Australia game (in March), then they said it will be the first game of the IPL, they said the hot weather (local tournament). This was what was told to me in the last six to seven months."
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has a stand named after him at the Arun Jaitley Stadium along with Mohinder Amarnath and Bishan Singh Bedi. Former India opener Virender Sehwag has a gate named after him alongside former Indian captain Anjum Chopra.
