IPL's Delhi Capitals share their name with a club from another league
What's the story?
One of the eight IPL franchises, the Delhi Daredevils will henceforth be called as the 'Delhi Capitals'. The co-owner of the franchise and JSW Sports' Director, Parth Jindal, who acquired a 50% stake in the franchise earlier this year, wanted a major overhaul in the franchise hence the name change was very much on the cards. The decision to rechristen the franchise name was announced it at a function in the national capital on Tuesday (December 4).
Jindal told the Indian Express, "We wanted this name to mean something to each and everyone from Delhi. Our supporting staff has a knack of picking raw talent and moulding them. Sandeep Lamichhane is a fine example of that. This season we have Kaif too who has been a natural talent scout too in this country. Shikhar Dhawan is a proven performer in IPL and he adds the perfect experience to the motivated young core of ours."
The Background
The Delhi Capitals (earlier, Delhi Daredevils) are the only side not to have made an IPL final at least once among the existing eight franchises. In the eleven editions so far, they qualified for the playoffs (knockouts) only thrice- 2008, 2009 and 2012.
In the inaugural edition, they lost to the eventual winners Rajasthan Royals in the semi-finals at the Wankhede Stadium. In the second edition in South Africa, they lost to the Adam Gilchrist-led Deccan Chargers side who went on to claim the glory at Johannesburg.
In the fifth edition, they lost the Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier-2 to finish third. Last season, they finished at the bottom of the table (eighth) under skipper, Shreyas Iyer who replaced Gautam Gambhir midway through the season.
The heart of the matter
After being renamed as Delhi Capitals, the IPL franchise shares its name with one of the professional Basketball clubs, Delhi Capitals based out of Delhi that competes in India's United Basketball Alliance (UBA) Pro Basketball League. The league which was found in 2015 currently has eight teams divided into two divisions, North and South.
The Delhi Capitals side which comes under the North Division won its first and only league title so far in 2016. Now with the Delhi Daredevils (IPL) being renamed as Delhi Capitals, these two teams based out of the same city will now share the same name!
What's next?
The 2019 IPL auctions will take place at Jaipur on December 18 and the Delhi Capitals will be keen to bolster the squad having already released some big guns like Gautam Gambhir, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Shami and Jason Roy.