With the fast-approaching Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, most franchises have nearly finalized their support staff members.
According to a TOI report, the Delhi Capitals have completed an overhaul of the entire backroom staff and the legendary Sourav Ganguly will no longer be associated with the franchise.
Former India cricketer Venugopal Rao will replace Ganguly as Director of Cricket and it is understood that the latter will be the "Women's Director of Cricket", the report added.
"Sourav Ganguly will no longer be participating in working and functioning of the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. You can say he will be the Women's Director of Cricket and will mostly be overseeing the Women's Premier League team and the Pretoria Capitals in SA20," TOI quoted a source as saying.
As per the report, Ganguly was keen to double up as the men's team head coach and Director of Cricket, but it didn't happen.
In July, Australian great Ricky Ponting also parted ways with DC, ending his seven years of association with the franchise as head coach.
The Capitals have well and truly hit the reset button ahead of the grand auction, and the decision on captaincy will be finalized in the coming days.
"The ball I feel is in Rishabh Pant's court now. Whether or not he wants to continue only as a player," said a team source, as quoted by TOI.
Earlier, news agency PTI has reported that DC will opt for three retentions -- Rishabh Pant (INR 18 crore), Axar Patel (INR 14 crore) and Kuldeep Yadav (INR 11 crore).
Since five retentions would cost INR 75 crore, it is believed that Australia’s Jake-Fraser McGurk, who was the emerging star in this year’s IPL, and South Africa’s Tristan Stubbs, two of their major foreign contributors could be retained with the Right To Match (RTM) option if their price tags are within team's budget.
As far as the uncapped retention is concerned, there is an exciting option in Abhishek Porel, who impressed one and all with his exploits last season, but no final decision has been reached yet.
The report also suggested that the Delhi Capitals will start with preparations for the mega auction and hold trials from next week. They have already shortlisted three venues and will finalize as per availability.
(With TOI Inputs)
