Delhi Daredevils has been running in poor form in the ongoing IPL season as they are presently at the bottom of the points table after their six games in this season. The poor form has been now forced Gautam Gambhir to step down from his captaincy role of the team. Shreyas Iyer has been announced as new captain for the franchise team.
Gautam Gambhir is the two-time IPL winning captain for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2012 and 2014. After playing first three seasons for Delhi Daredevils, Gambhir successfully featured for KKR from 2011 to 2017. Before this year’s IPL retention, Gambhir wished to play for Delhi Daredevils as he wants to finish his IPL career where he started.
Delhi made him the captain as soon as they bought him in 2018 IPL Auction for INR 2.8 crores.
However, Delhi Daredevils’ poor IPL fate has not changed yet in this season too as they are currently bottom in the table after winning only one game out of their first six games. Recently on Monday, they played their first home game of this season at Feroz Shah Kotla (Delhi) where they failed to chase a low target of 149-run against Kings XI Punjab.
Now, Shreyas Iyer will lead the side in the upcoming matches in IPL 2018. Playing for Delhi franchise since 2015, Iyer is currently in the very good form as he hit two consecutive half-centuries in the last two IPL games for the team. However, the young right-handed batsman has no leadership experience as a captain of an IPL team.
Speaking about the decision, Gambhir said the media, “I take full responsibility for the position we are in. And looking at the position, I have decided to step down as captain. Iyer will take over. I still feel we have the team to turn things around this IPL.”
Gambhir also confirmed that the decision was taken by himself only and the team management didn’t pressurise for that.
The 36-year-old left-handed opening batsman said, “Absolutely my decision. I was the one who initiated the meeting (with the team owners). I thought that I haven’t contributed enough and at the same time, the performance of the team… I had to take the responsibility being the leader of the ship. So I feel that it was the right time. We’re very much in this competition. It was absolutely my decision, no pressure from the franchise, they’ve been absolutely sportive about it, sometimes when your conscious says it’s the right time you just take that (call).”
Though it was the sudden news and a huge responsibility, 23-year-old batsman Shreyas Iyer is looking it as an opportunity to prove himself.
He spoke about that, “I just got the news today afternoon and I wasn’t thinking much about it. I’m really loving the responsibility they’ve put upon me and also the faith they’ve shown upon me. I love facing challenges and it’s a great opportunity for me to prove myself and get the team to the highest level possible.”
Delhi Daredevils will play their next game on this Friday against KKR at their home venue Feroz Shah Kotla (Delhi). Before that game, Delhi Daredevils’ head coach Ricky Ponting said that they will try to make Iyer’s job easy as possible on the field as he also assured that the young man has not to carry any extra pressure on his shoulder.
The former Australian two-time World Cup-winning captain said, “It’s my job, it’s Gautam’s job and it’s all the players’ job to make Shreyas’s job as easy as possible on the field. There are a couple of training days before the game comes around and it’s our job as coaches to make sure they train hard and train well and are prepared for what’s going to come in the game. A big part of coaching is to make sure that captain has got everything he needs to be well prepared for the challenge.
“There’s no extra pressure on Shreyas at all. He’s going to play the way he’s been playing. He’s been playing terrifically well and that’s what we want to create around our team. We want to have a nice and relaxed environment, sure things are getting tougher for us, but it’s just a great challenge that we’ve got and with a new young captain, we’re all excited to see how it works out for us in the next few weeks.”
