IPL 2019: Delhi Capitals appoint Dhiraj Malhotra as their new CEO

Former ICC events manager Dhiraj Malhotra has been named as the new CEO of the Delhi Capitals, it was announced earlier today. Having been the Indian Premier League tournament director in 2008 and 2009, Malhotra was the frontrunner for this job. Former CEO Hemant Dua had resigned in August 2018 as Delhi refurbished itself.

Delhi have been the perennial wooden spooners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and will be hoping to make at least some impact this year. They will be led by Shreyas Iyer, who was made the captain in the last season after Gautam Gambhir decided to withdraw from his captaincy.

“We are hoping the team gels really well this time around. We have a few young players who we have been grooming for a while. We have a good mix of juniors and experienced players,” Malhotra told Sportstar. “The vision with Delhi Capitals is to create a solid fan-base, to make sure that we have a competitive team, one that believes in itself. The vision is to ensure we are the No. 1 sports team in India,” he added.

Hanuma Vihari can do well in all formats

At the auctions for the 2019 season, one of the biggest talking points was the purchase of Test specialist Hanuma Vihari at Rs 2 crore by the Delhi franchise. The Andhra Pradesh batsman’s credentials in the shortest format are hardly known or seen. When asked to explain the strategy behind spending such a huge sum of money on Vihari, Malhotra said that the cricketer has the ability to adapt himself in all formats and the franchise will keep supporting him.

“He’s a great cricketer, so that format shouldn’t matter. I think he can adapt himself well whatever be the format and we have high hopes from him, and we will help him and support him as much as possible,” Malhotra justified the purchase.

The IPL 2019 begins on Saturday, March 23, with the opener between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the Chennai Super Kings.

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