The Leadership of Iyer
Delhi Capitals will miss their regular captain Shreyas Iyer who dislocated his shoulder during the India-England series. Iyer was first given captaincy of DC in 2018 season when Gautam Gambhir decided to quite the role midway. Iyer, despite being one of the youngest captains in IPL history delivered immediately with match winning performance in his first match as captain. He continued to lead the team efficiently in 2019 and 2020 with significant success. Under the leadership of Iyer they again managed to reach IPL playoffs in next two consecutive editions after 2012. Moreover, they played maiden IPL final in 2020 against Mumbai Indians.
No wonder, Iyer has had a great impact as captain on the side. He led experienced players and overseas stars with example.
However, the injury of Iyer forced to DC to find a new captain for this season almost at the last moment. They had multiple options in Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Shikhar Dhawan. All of them have had the experience of leading IPL team at some point of their respective careers. But the franchise decided to show trust on a young man, Rishabh Pant.
Successful Phases of Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant is enjoying one of his most successful phases of his career. His IPL T20 was forgettable a he was visibly fumbling behind the wicket and not scoring enough runs in the front. He performance in IPL 2020 was lower compared to two previous seasons. As a result, he failed to keep his place in the Indian squad during the limited-overs leg of India’s tour of Australia. He managed to make a comeback in the Test series and made his presence feel strongly. Since then, he has not looked back. He will play a key role for Delhi Capitals in the middle order. He may have to work as a finisher for DC as well. The onus of keeping also will be on him.
Pant cannot let the pressure of captaincy impact his performance as a player. He is fortunate to have a core leadership group and is expected to get essential inputs from them. However, captaincy at the young age is nothing new for Pant. He has led his state side Delhi in a Ranji final when he was just 20 years old. In fact, Rishabh Pant has shown enough mental strength and hard work to make a strong comeback to the national team with absolute dominance. No wonder Delhi Capitals management trusted his traits and he will be hoping to return a good show.
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