# Delhi Daredevils

The Delhi Capitals (DC) is a franchise cricket team representing the city of Delhi in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as Delhi Daredevils (often abbreviated as DD), it is one of the eight teams in the IPL. The Delhi franchise is owned by the GMR Group and JSW Group. Their home ground is the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi. In December 2018, the team changed its name from Delhi Daredevils to Delhi Capitals.
The team has never appeared in an IPL final and last qualified for the IPL playoffs in 2012, while often ending up as the wooden spooners.
The leading run-scorer for the Capitals is Virender Sehwag while the leading wicket-taker is Amit Mishra.

## Franchise history

Indian Premier League is a cricket tournament organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and backed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the inaugural tournament held in April–June 2008, the BCCI had finalized a list of 8 teams who will be participating in the tournament. The teams representing 8 different cities of India, including Delhi, were put up on auction in Mumbai on 20 February 2008 and the Delhi team was successfully bid for by the property development company GMR Group, who paid US$84 million for it.
In March 2018, GMR sold a 50% stake in Delhi Daredevils to JSW Sports for ₹550 crore (US$64 million).
In December 2018, the team changed its name from Delhi Daredevils to Delhi Capitals.

## 2009 IPL season

The Daredevils dominated for much of the 2009 IPL under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir finishing at the top of the table. The likes of Sehwag and Gambhir both had developed greatly since the last season and set up many large totals for the Daredevils, with AB de Villiers hitting one of only two centuries in the 2009 IPL (the other one was made by Manish Pandey), which was held in South Africa. The bowling, which in 2008 was composed mainly of players (Daniel Vettori, Amit Mishra, Pradeep Sangwan, Ashish Nehra) was bolstered by the offseason signing of Dirk Nannes from Australia, which created a bowling lineup that was strong. The batting of the DD was one of the strongest in the tournament, featuring Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan, de Villiers and Ranji veteran Manoj Tiwari. The Daredevils consisted of new and uncapped players like Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell, who went on to become very great names in T20 circuits.
However, despite dominating for the regular season, the Daredevils crumbled in the semi-final under a fierce batting assault by Adam Gilchrist, who hit the 3rd fastest fifty in IPL history (just 17 balls). Nannes in particular, who was again picked over Glenn McGrath, was punished by Gilchrist and later by Andrew Symonds. The disappointing semi-final meant Delhi did not contest the final of the 2009 IPL despite having the best record in the league stages. However, Delhi managed to qualify for 2009 Champions League Twenty20 because of their performance in group stage.
Delhi were table toppers again in 2012. Morne Morkel of Delhi was the highest wicket taker of the tournament. The Daredevils came third in the tournament and qualified for the second time in the Champions League Twenty20.
Iconic Australian pace bowler Glenn McGrath expressed disappointment over not being picked to play any match during the whole season, and has since then stopped playing for Delhi.

## 2012 IPL season

Due to the disbanding of Kochi Tuskers Kerala, each team will play the remaining eight teams twice, once at home and once away. Therefore, each team will play an extended season of 16 matches.
In the IPL season of 2012, a new Delhi Daredevils side was seen after a poor 2011 season where they finished last. They came back strongly having purchased players the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene and Ross Taylor.They stood first in the Pool Table with the Kolkata Knight Riders at second place, Mumbai Indians coming third and the Chennai Super Kings securing the fourth spot, consequently also qualifying for the Champions League Twenty20 in 2012 held in South Africa.
Mahela Jayawardane was appointed as the new captain of the Delhi Daredevils after Virender Sehwag stepped down from captaincy during the 2012 season of the Champions League Twenty20.

## 2013 IPL season

The Delhi Daredevils lost all first six matches of IPL 2013 and won their first match in 7 games against the Mumbai Indians. Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene's partnership led to an inevitable win against the Mumbai Indians in which they scored 161 runs. Sehwag was the Man of the Match for his brilliant innings of 95* off 57 balls. After this match, they faced Punjab Kings and lost again. But in their 9th match of the season, against Pune Warriors India, they won, putting them in 8th place in the points table. They defeated Kolkata Knight Riders in their 10th Match by 7 wickets but failed to advance to 7th place due to their net run-rate. In their next match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils were bowled out for just 80, which was the lowest total in Delhi's IPL record, giving the Sunrisers a comfortable win. In their match against Rajasthan Royals, they scored 154 thanks to new recruit Ben Rohrer's brilliant half-century, however that effort was in vain as Rajasthan chased the total down easily with only 1 wicket falling. This loss for the Daredevils officially eliminated them from the 2013 season.
In their next match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi managed to contain the Royal Challengers who were 106 in 16.0 overs, but Royal Challengers Bengaluru scored 77 in their last four overs and reached a total of 183, thanks to a well-made 99 by Virat Kohli. Nonetheless, the Daredevils fought hard but closely lost the match by just 4 runs. The Delhi Daredevils next played the dominant Chennai Super Kings side who batted first and posted 168. Delhi failed to gain momentum throughout the match and eventually lost by 33 runs. The following match was against Kings XI Punjab who defeated them again, this time by 7 runs, as they failed to chase 172. Their final game was against Pune Warriors India. Delhi bowled first and the Pune Warriors posted a total of 171. In the second innings, Delhi started well maintaining the required run rate, but began losing quick wickets after the 10th over. They couldn't chase the target and lost by 38 runs finishing last in the league table. Despite having an unforgiving season, a few big names were added to the support staff as the season progressed. The legendary Vivian Richards was named as their new brand ambassador, former England spinner Jeremy Snape was added to the support staff and renowned former Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed was named as their new spin bowling coach.They contract for how much year.

## 2014 IPL season

Ahead of the IPL 2014 auction, on 10 January 2014 the Delhi Daredevils announced that they will not retain any players from their current squad for season 7. With no players retained, the team would have the most 'right-to-match' cards among all the franchises at the auction: i.e., three. They will also have their full purse of Rs 600 million (approx US$9.6) to spend at the auction. The Delhi Daredevils experienced another poor season in 2014. They lost their first match, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, however they won their next match against Kolkata Knight Riders. This was followed by a heavy loss against the Chennai Super Kings and a nail-bitingly close match which resulted in a disappointing loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Delhi Daredevils won their next match against the Mumbai Indians having restricted Mumbai to 125. Later, when the tournament shifted from the United Arab Emirates to India, Delhi lost their next nine matches. The Delhi Daredevils won only two out of their 14 matches, both of which took place in the UAE. Despite their poor performance, JP Duminy, the team captain, had a relatively good season overall scoring 410 runs from 14 matches at an average of 51.25 and was the tournament's eighth highest run-scorer. The Delhi Daredevils once again had a disappointing season finishing last.

## 2015 IPL season

The team finished 7th in the 2015 edition of the IPL. They received fierce criticism from the Delhi fans because of their string of poor performances in the past two years.

## 2016 IPL season

The Delhi Daredevils released many of its players, including last year's most expensive purchase, Yuvraj Singh, whom they had bought for a whopping ₹ 16 crores. The Daredevils also released former Sri Lankan skipper and all-rounder Angelo Mathews who was bought for ₹ 7.5 crores. New additions included uncapped all rounder Pawan Negi, who was bought for ₹ 8.5 crores, thereby becoming the most expensive Indian player in the IPL Auction of 2016. Sanju Samson and Karun Nair, who previously played for the Rajasthan Royals were also bought for hefty amounts. South African all rounder Chris Morris was bought for ₹ 7 crores. Englishman Sam Billings and Australian Joel Paris also joined the Delhi squad. The Daredevils purchased three promising India U-19 players - Rishabh Pant, Khaleel Ahmed and Mahipal Lomror as well. After the Daredevils ended their association with South African Gary Kirsten, they appointed Paddy Upton as their head coach. The Indian batting legend and head coach of India U-19, Rahul Dravid was appointed the batting mentor of the Daredevils. Zaheer Khan was appointed as the new captain of the Delhi Daredevils in 2016 IPL season. Relative to their performance in the last 3 seasons, Delhi Daredevils had improved the way they played in 2016. Chris Morris got the fastest 50 (17 balls) of the tournament and was also effective in the bowling department. Quinton De Kock was among the leading run scorers in the season. After losing their first match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, they went on to dominate Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders in the second leg and Gujarat Lions. They won 5 of their first 7 matches. They lost their second match against Gujarat Lions by just one run. Delhi were favorites to qualify for the playoffs. However, they could manage only two wins against Sunrisers Hyderabad and finished with 14 points in 14 games, putting them in 6th place. Even though they couldn't qualify, fans were content as they saw a resurgent Delhi play much better than before, hoping their team could progress to the playoffs in 2017.

## 2017 IPL season

Delhi lost their main players, De Kock and Duminy before the tournament. This made them dependent on a very young batting line up. But they had the most powerful bowling line up with Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami, Chris Morris, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Ben Hilfenhaus. But they lost to RCB in first game and won by big margins against RPS and PBKS. After this they lost 5 games in a row. However, they bounced back by chasing 189 and 214 against SRH and GL respectively. Samson got the first century of the season. Pant made 97 against GL. But DD lost to MI by a big margin of 146 runs which was the highest win by runs in ipl history. During the middle of tournament, Captain Zaheer Khan was down with injury for his hamstring, missed 3 matches and Karun Nair was appointed as stand-in Captain. DD ended up at 6th position again with 6 wins and 8 loses. The fans have supported DD well throughout the tournament and were entertained in the second half of the season with young players batting.

## 2019 IPL season

Franchises confirmed the names of retained players for the 12th season of Indian Premier League. 2019 Indian Premiere League will play next year. DC Retained following players for next season Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult.

## Home ground

The Delhi Capitals play their home matches in the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, the second-oldest cricket stadium in India located in New Delhi. They also have the modern Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur as their secondary home ground.

## Brand ambassador

Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar was the brand ambassador of the team during the 2008 Season but opted not to return for the 2009 season due to a busy schedule. However, Akshay was seen at a few of the team's games cheering them on.

## Team anthem

Famous Bollywood playback singer Kailash Kher was the artist for the team's anthem - "Khel Front Foot Pe" ("Play on the front foot") or "play aggressively", a trait fondly associated with Delhiites who are known to have a competitive and aggressive spirit. The song was played at every Delhi Daredevils match.
The Delhi Daredevils then launched their new anthem "Munday Dilli Ke" (The Lads from Delhi) on 5 March 2012 on YouTube.
Their new anthem for the 2016 season of IPL titled 'Dhuandaar Dilli' was released on YouTube which has been sung by Sukhwinder Singh. In year 2018, they released yet another theme song, called 'Dhadkega'.

## Players

Virender Sehwag was accorded the icon player status in the Delhi Daredevils team and was also the captain of the side during the first two seasons. However, he resigned and passed on the leadership to his opening partner Gautam Gambhir for the 2010 season. But after Gambhir left the team for Kolkata Knight Riders in the fourth edition, Sehwag was once again given the duty to captain the team. Since the start of the IPL in 2008 many international players such as Glenn McGrath, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, David Warner, Andrew McDonald, Daniel Vettori, Farveez Maharoof, Dirk Nannes and Aaron Finch have donned the cap for the Daredevils, making the team one of the most diverse franchises in the IPL. The team also included Indian players like Dinesh Karthik and Yo Mahesh.
In 2009, Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Malik went out due to the ban on Pakistani players and Asif's positive drug test. David Warner, Andrew McDonald, Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah were the new signings. Ashish Nehra came in from Mumbai Indians as a trade-off for Shikhar Dhawan. For IPL 2010, Moises Henriques came in from Kolkata Knight Riders in exchange for Manoj Tiwary and Owais Shah. Wayne Parnell was purchased at the auction for US$610,000.
In 2012, they bought Mahela Jayawardene, Andre Russell, Doug Bracewell, Morne Morkel and Kevin Pietersen. The Daredevils also signed all-rounder Pawan Negi, batsmen Manprit Juneja and Kuldeep Rawal ahead of the 2012 season. Delhi Daredevils appointed Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene as vice-captain for 2012. On 29 February 2012, the Daredevils signed Ross Taylor from the Rajasthan Royals in a trade for an undisclosed amount.
Delhi Daredevils appointed Mahela Jayawardene as the captain for the 2013 edition and signed Jeevan Mendis, Jesse Ryder and Johan Botha. In the IPL 7 auction held on 12 and 13 February 2014, Delhi Daredevils did not retain its key players from the previous IPL seasons. They used the 'right-to-match' card for resigning Kevin Pietersen.
Delhi Daredevils have been known to consistently change their existing squad. Notable players such as AB de Villiers, Gautam Gambhir and David Warner were all released by the Delhi Daredevils management to consistently change their existing squad.

## Seasons

| Year | Indian Premier League |
| 2008 | Semifinalists (4th/8) |
| 2009 | Semifinalists (3rd/8) |
| 2010 | League stage (5th/8) |
| 2011 | League stage (10th/10) |
| 2012 | Playoffs (3rd/9) |
| 2013 | League stage (9th/9) |
| 2014 | League stage (8th/8) |
| 2015 | League stage (7th/8) |
| 2016 | League stage (6th/8) |
| 2017 | League stage (6th/8) |
| 2018 | League stage (8th/8) |
Daredevils played in the now defunct Champions League Twenty20 twice, in 2009 and 2012. While they were eliminated in the group stage in the former, they made the semifinals in the latter.

## Administration and support staff

* Owners – JSW Group, GMR Group
* Head coach – Ricky Ponting
* Assistant coach – Mohammad Kaif
* Talent Scouts – Mohammad Kaif, Pravin Amre
* Bowling coach – James Hopes
* Spin bowling coach – N/A
* Fielding coach – Subhadeep Ghosh
* Team manager – Sunil Valson
* Physiotherapists – Paul Close, Vaibhav Daga

## Sponsorship

| Year | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor (chest) | Shirt sponsor (back) | Chest Branding |
| 2008 | Adidas | Hero Honda | Religare | Adidas |
| 2009 | Adidas | Hero Honda | Jetking | GMR Group |
| 2010 | Adidas | Hero Honda | Idea | Panasonic |
| 2011 | Adidas | Muthoot Group | Idea | Panasonic |
| 2012 | Adidas | Muthoot Group | Idea | Panasonic |
| 2013 | Adidas | Muthoot Group | Idea | Panasonic |
| 2014 | N/A | Quikr | Idea | Justdial |
| 2015 | Flying Machine | Daikin | Lux Cozi | Flying Machine |
| 2016 | Shiv Naresh | Daikin | Manforce | Karbonn Mobiles |
| 2017 | Shiv Naresh | Daikin | Manforce | Jio |
| 2018 | T10 Sports | Daikin | NatureFresh | Suzuki Gixxer |

## Statistics
### Win–loss record

| Edition | Played | Won | Loss | Tied | No Result | Win% | Home Win% | Away Win% | Neutral Win% | Status |
| IPL 2008 | 15 | 7 | 7 | - | 1 | 50% | 4/7 (1 NR)= 66.7% | 3/7= 42.86% | 0/1=0% | Semifinalists |
| IPL 2009 | 15 | 10 | 5 | - | - | 66.67% | - | - | 10/15= 66.67% | League Stage Table Toppers, Semifinalists |
| IPL 2010 | 14 | 7 | 7 | - | - | 50% | 3/7= 42.9% | 4/7= 57.1% | - | League stage |
| IPL 2011 | 14 | 4 | 9 | - | 1 | 30.77% | 1/7 (1 NR)= 16.7% | 3/7= 42.9% | - | League stage |
| IPL 2012 | 18 | 11 | 7 | - | - | 61.11% | 5/8= 62.5% | 6/9= 66.67% | 0/1=0% | League Stage Table Toppers, Playoffs |
| IPL 2013 | 16 | 3 | 13 | - | - | 18.75% | 3/8= 37.5% | 0/8= 0% | - | League Stage |
| IPL 2014 | 14 | 2 | 12 | - | - | 14.28% | 0/5= 0% | 0/4= 0% | 2/5=40% | League Stage |
| IPL 2015 | 14 | 5 | 8 | - | 1 | 35.70% | 3/7= 42.9% | 2/7 (1 NR)= 33.3% | - | League Stage |
| IPL 2016 | 14 | 7 | 7 | - | - | 50% | 4/7 =57.1 % | 3/7= 42.9% | - | League Stage |
| IPL 2017 | 14 | 6 | 8 | - | - | 42.85% | 4/7 =57.1 % | 2/7= 28.6% | - | League Stage |
| IPL 2018 | 14 | 5 | 9 | - | - | 35.71% | 4/7 =57.1 % | 1/7 =14.3 % | - | League stage |
| Overall | 162 | 67 | 92 | - | 3 | 42.13% | 31/70 (2 NR)=45.6 % | 24/70 (1 NR)= 34.8% | 12/22= 54.54% | |
Updated until IPL 2018.

### Head to head in IPL

| IPL Team | Played | Won | Lost | Tied | No Result | Win% |
| Chennai Super Kings | 17 | 5 | 12 | - | - | 29.41 |
| Deccan Chargers / Sunrisers Hyderabad | 19 | 10 | 9 | - | - | 52.60 |
| Punjab Kings | 22 | 9 | 13 | - | - | 40.90 |
| Kochi Tuskers Kerala | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 50 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 22 | 9 | 13 | - | - | 40.90 |
| Mumbai Indians | 22 | 11 | 11 | - | - | 50.00 |
| Pune Warriors India / Rising Pune Supergiant | 9 | 4 | 4 | - | 1 | 44.44 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 18 | 7 | 11 | - | - | 38.88 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 21 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 32.50 |
| Gujarat Lions | 4 | 3 | 1 | - | - | 75% |
Last updated: 3 May 2018

### Overall results in CLT20

Performance summary in Champions League :
| Year | Matches | Wins | Losses | No Result | Success Rate | Summary |
| 2009 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 50.0% | League stage |
| 2012 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 40.0% | Semi final |
| Total | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 44.44% | |

### Head to head in CLT20

| CLT20 Team | Played | Won | Lost | Tied | No Result | Win% |
| Victorian Bushrangers | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | 0 |
| Wayamba | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 100 |
| Cape Cobras | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 100 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 100 |
| Auckland Aces | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 |
| Perth Scorchers | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 100 |
| Titans | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | 0 |
| Highveld Lions | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | 0 |