Infrastructure major GMR Group-owned Delhi Daredevils team did not retain any of its last season?s players and had the full purse of R60 crore at the start of the auction. On the sidelines of the IPL auction, Delhi Daredevils CEO Hemant Dua spoke to FE?s Anand J on Wednesday?s auction, team selection and the franchisee?s overall financial health. Excerpts

How did the auction go today for Delhi Daredevils?

We are happy with the selections. It was the management decision along with the coach Gary Kirsten. We are looking forward to build the team. Thursday?s auction will be important especially in the uncapped segment. The money has been well spent.

Was the bid for Dinesh Karthik at R12.5 crore a bit too high ?

We were looking for a balanced team. We did not go for any individual player. This was a team decision. He will play an important role in the team we have selected.

RCB seems to have put together one of the strongest batting teams.

We looked at utility rather than big players. We are happy with the selection of players we have managed so far with a fair amount of batting and good number of exciting bowlers.

Who will be the captain and how do you rate the team?s performance so far in IPL history?

We have had a fairly good first three seasons. We are the only team to have topped the points table twice. We are confident this year too. Let the best team win. This year?s captain will be decided in due course and Gary will take a call in consultation with others.

Lot of big names have remained unsold this year?

If you are talking about international players, lot of these players are from England and Sri Lanka who are not available for the full season and that will upset our game plan. That is a challenge. We are planning a team for long term. If you remember Kevin Pietersen had to leave the team last year. This year, since he will be available for the full season, we have bid for him.

This will be the most controversial IPL…

I have no comments to offer on that. The league is doing its best. If these were to affect the IPL, that would have happened long ago. The league is getting stronger.

How is your financial performance? The parent company has widened its Q3 losses.

We are independent of the parent company. We are doing well and had a good season last year, and the balance sheet is looking good. We have invested in providing a good experience when our fans come to the stadium. I am hopeful we will have a good season.

When do you expect to make a net profit?

I have been here only for a few years. We have been making operational profits y-o-y for two years. Sports franchisees have a long gestation period to make profits and are not overnight money-making units. We will soon post net profits. We are looking to grow revenues through other avenues like merchandising as the team loyalty will improve over the next three years.