If the Kolkata Knight Riders have Shah Rukh Khan’s charisma backing them and Preity Zinta has lent her appeal to the Mohali team in the Indian Premier League, the Delhi Daredevils have roped in Bollywood daredevil Akshay Kumar to represent them.

The team captained by ‘hot-in-news’ Virendra Sehwag is charged by this development. Reveals a source, “Akshay Kumar’s image truly represents the team’s spirit. His inclusion will inject more enthusiasm into the team.”

And though the actor also has a stake in Delhi’s Daredevils, the source insists that it’s his love for cricket that’s prompted Akshay to sign up.

Akshay was known to play cricket on the grounds near Red Fort and even hike to India Gate to indulge in his favourite sport during his Delhi days. Even now, the actor often takes time out of his hectic schedule to catch up with the action on field.

It’s all about connecting with the heartbeat of Delhi — that is what Indian Premier League franchisee of Delhi, owned by infrastructure giants GMR Holdings, will aim to do in BCCI’s premier Twenty20 tournament. The Delhi franchisee rechristened as ‘Delhi Daredevils’ will aim to combine pre- and post-play entertainment for the crowds with fast and furious cricket to bring GMR closer to Delhiites.

“Delhi is a city of fierce pride, historic heroism and fearless passion and it is no wonder that our team will be known as Daredevils. We feel proud to announce that almost 67% of the respondents to our SMS poll for deciding the team name voted for Daredevils,” GMR’s IPL CEO Yogesh Shetty told the media at the launch of team name and logo at Feroz Shah Kotla yesterday.

GMR Holding won the Delhi franchisee with a bid of US$ 84 million in Mumbai.

GMR were still undecided on who will captain the side. “Right now, all we can announce is that Victorian T20-winning coach Greg Shippard will be our coach and assisting him will be David Saker,” GMR Senior Director B Vanchi said.

“There will be no compromise on our basic objective — winning matches. We will look to build a successful T20 side because this is not just for a couple of years but a long-term venture which we want to build successfully. So it will be definitely good young and aggressive talent from our pool which includes Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh,” Vanchi added.


GMR refused to divulge the composition of their team before the player auctions are completed on Wednesday in Mumbai. But have roped in MRF Pace Academy coach TA Sekhar as chief of cricketing operations for the side. Since the team requires at least four Ranji players in the team, Delhi players like Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia and Shikhar Dhawan as well as UP’s Praveen Kumar will be eyed by the Daredevils. In the under-19 category, Delhi’s coffers are overflowing with players like Virat Kohli, paceman Pradeep Sangwan and UP’s promising opener Tanmay Srivastava in contention for the side.