IPL 2021: Delhi Capitals to stick with Rishabh Pant as skipper for second leg - Reports

If reports are to be believed, Rishabh Pant will continue as the skipper of Delhi Capitals in the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the first half of the tournament after sustaining a shoulder injury during England’s tour of India after which the management decided to hand over the reins to Rishabh Pant.

The southpaw led the team well as Delhi Capitals won six of their eight games before the tournament was postponed. However, with Iyer regaining full fitness before the UAE leg, the franchise was in dilemma to give the captaincy back to Shreyas Iyer or stick to Rishabh Pant. After much deliberation, the franchise decided to let Pant lead the side in UAE as well.

“While it is great news that Shreyas Iyer is fit again and ready to get back to action, it is understood that the DC management want to give him more time to recover. As a result, Pant will continue as captain, but only for the second half of IPL 2021,” said a source close to the franchise.

The entire Delhi Capitals' contingent, barring players who are busy in international assignments, have started their preparations in UAE. Capitals resume their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on September 22 in Dubai.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer is delighted to be fit for the remaining games and said he is looking forward to delivering some decent performances for his team. Iyer said the time away from game was very hard on him.

“Currently, I am feeling amazing, the journey was awesome, to be honest. I never hesitated for a while but right after the injury, I was sulking a bit and I didn’t know exactly what to do. I went into the dressing room and cried and it took me a while to digest it but yeah, at the end of the day, you need to go through all of it.”

“It’s a setback and you just have to push and come back strong. When I realized, I had to go under the knife, it was pretty hard to digest. The way I was training prior to the injury, I was at the highest level, at the peak and suddenly this freak injury happened,” he added.