Delhi Capitals have decided to part ways with Ajit Agarkar and Shane Watson, who were part of the team’s think tank, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee informed on Thursday. The team finished ninth this season.

Taking to Twitter, the IPL franchisee informed, “You’ll always have a place to call home here, Thank You, Ajit and Watto, for your contributions. All the very best for your future endeavours.” It may be noted that Agarkar is in contention for the chief selector’s post for the Indian men’s cricket team. Watson, on the other hand, had joined the 15th season of the IPL. According to circleofcricket.com, Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly will continue as head coach and director of cricket, respectively at the franchise.

Poor IPL performance

While Delhi Capitals reached the playoffs stage thrice between 2019 to 2021, it failed to reach top four in the last two seasons. Currently, there are 10 teams in the league. There were only eight teams in the IPL a few years back.

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Notably, the team went into a major crisis, even before this year’s IPL after Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the tournament even before the tournament started. With Pant unable to lead the side, the captaincy was handed over to David Warner. Under him, Delhi won five of the 14 matches played in the 2023 season.

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Decision ahead of the chief selector’s election?

The Delhi Capital’s decision comes at a time when Agarkar is rumoured to be the front-runner of the chief selector of the Men’s team. As of now, Shiv Sunder Das is playing the role of chief selector on a temporary basis due to the unceremonious exit of Chetan Sharma this February.

The last date to apply for the chief selector’s post is June 30. Notably, if Agarkar is appointed for the post, he will be the second person to join the selection committee of BCCI, with Salil Ankola already continuing. Earlier in 2020, Agarkar was linked with this post.