Gautam Gambhir surprised everyone when he decided to hang to give away his captaincy of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Daredevils (DD) after the poor performance of the team. Taking the blame on himself, Gambhir decided to quit the leadership and suggested that it was his own call and no one from the team management forced him to do so.

On Friday, when DD’s new captain Shreyas Iyer when came for the toss for the first time for the match against Dinesh Karthik-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). However, the more shocking news was that Gambhir was not even a part of the playing XI as well. Notably, in-form Shreyas Iyer once again played a terrific knock and helped his side post a huge total.

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It was 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw who provided a dream start for DD as he became joint youngest half-centurion in the history of IPL. DD bowlers defended the total and registered their 2nd win of the tournament. Colin Munro who replaced Gambhir at the top played a decent knock providing a breezy start.

After a winning start, Iyer while talking to the media after the match said that it was Gambhir himself who opted to sit out of the side. He explained, “It wasn’t my decision to drop him. He himself decided to sit out, which was really courageous decision with him being the captain in the previous matches,” said 23-year-old Mumbai-born player. “The respect for him has gone really high. It’s really [good to] see when a captain if he’s not playing well, he backs out. Munro came in and gave us the desired start.”

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It was an interesting decision from Gautam to warm the bench despite being appointed as the skipper of the side before the tournament. Notably, he led KKR to the IPL champions on two occasions but in the 11th edition of the tournament, Gambhir was not able to come to the fore with his batting as well as his captaincy decisions.

One would feel that only Gautam Gambhir can take such a call for the benefit of his team.