Former skipper of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Gautam Gambhir is all set to lead Delhi Daredevils (DD) in IPL 2018. He led KKR for past seven IPL seasons. However, the official announcement of Gambhir being DD’s skipper in IPL 11 was made on Wednesday (March 7). The southpaw who played for Daredevils during the first three seasons, returned to the franchise after he was bought for ₹2.8 Crore at the IPL 2018 mega-auction.

While sharing his views after being named as DD’s captain for IPL 2018, Gautam said, “I’m privileged to be captaining Delhi Daredevils. It is always great to come back home, where you stated your IPL career, cricketing career as well. Hopefully, this is the place I’m going to finish as well. So I am really looking forward to it and really really really excited about it.”

😍😍😍😍😍#DilDilli #DilliKaKaptaan https://t.co/7FOQCnM0Hi

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) March 7, 2018

Also read: Gambhir received a solid reason by KKR for leaving out

Hemant Dua, Delhi Daredevils CEO, made the news official at an event on Wednesday. He tweeted, “Happy to announce @GautamGambhir as our @DelhiDaredevils Captain for 2018 and beyond … He left us as a #Captain and come back as our #Captain … #VivoIPL #IPL #DilDilli”.

Happy to announce @GautamGambhir as our @DelhiDaredevils Captain for 2018 and beyond … He left us as a #Captain and come back as our #Captain … #VivoIPL #IPL #DilDilli

— Hemant Dua हेमंत दुआ (@inspiranti) March 7, 2018

The veteran batsman left Daredevils in 2011, with the Knight Riders picking him up for $2,400,000. As the skipper of the Knight Riders team, Gambhir led them to a couple of titles – in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Gautam also played a crucial role during Knight Riders’ 2012 triumphant season by amassing 590 runs at an average of 39.33. Even during last year’s IPL, the opener was in fine form, scoring 498 runs at an average of 41.5.

Also read: Gautam Gambhir may captain Delhi Daredevils: Ponting

Ricky Ponting, the newly-appointed Daredevils coach, has earlier revealed, on the day of the IPL 2018 auction, that the franchise had previously spoken to Gambhir about the leadership role.