Biography
The Delhi women’s side is one of the five teams to have participated in the inaugural Women’s T20 League which has now become a prominent Women’s franchise cricket tournament. The JSW GMR Cricket Private Limited was formed in 2018 when JSW Sports Private Limited took 50% equity in the cricket franchise owned by GMR Sports Private Limited and they put in a bid of INR 810 crore for the Delhi-based women’s franchise on 25th January 2023. Former tennis player Mustafa Ghouse is the director and oversees the functioning of the organization.
Jonathan Batty was appointed as the head coach of the franchise and he came with a solid resume having won the first two editions of The Hundred with the Oval women’s franchise. He will be aided by two assistant coaches with Australia’s Lisa Keightly bringing in loads of coaching experience to the table and former chief of the All-India selection committee for women’s team Hemlata Kala also in the mix. Former India fielding coach Biju George will lend her expertise to the team as well.
They had a shrewd initial auction before the first tournament and spent their funds appropriately picking up Jemimah Rodrigues for INR 2.2 crore as their most expensive signing. Jemimah was given the responsibility of deputizing the experienced Meg Lanning with the Australian captain being purchased for a low sum of INR 1.1 crore. The other big name in the team was that of explosive Indian opener Shafali Verma along with whom Lanning would go on to put a stellar partnership throughout the initial campaign as Delhi would finish as table-toppers. Delhi did eventually lose to Mumbai in the Final of the inaugural competition but there were some standout performers. Marizanne Kapp led the bowling brilliantly and young Alice Capsey proved to be highly effective with both bat and ball. The move to play Tara Norris as an extra foreign player due to the associate nation rule also proved to be positive as the left-arm pacer picked up plenty of wickets.
Leading up to the 2024 season of the Women’s T20 League, Delhi made a few changes to the squad letting go of Tara Norris but they spent big on Aussie all-rounder Annabel Sutherland purchasing her for a whopping INR 2cr and this buy could be the missing piece of the puzzle for them.
