Gautam Gambhir was officially named Delhi Daredevils captain for IPL 2018. (Source: PTI)
During an interaction with journalists, moments after he was named skipper of the Daredevils squad, Gautam Gambhir was asked to talk about being part of a ‘happier dressing room’. Gambhir’s verbal altercation with the Delhi team coach KP Bhaskar last season is well documented and he didn’t lead the state side this year.
“It’s fun to be in a peaceful environment. I haven’t had it for a couple of years (in Delhi’s Ranji team)…so it will be good fun and it can bring out the best in me,” he said.
The tacit admission once again highlighted the frosty relationship he shares with the DDCA — his home association, and further illustrated the deep fault-lines in Delhi’s Ranji squad. The dressing room divide did little to diminish his appetite for scoring runs. The 36-year-old has played in every Ranji Trophy match this season, and was one of the main factors behind Delhi’s march into the final.
Unlike in the DDCA, Gambhir was given a fairly free run during his prolific seven-year association as KKR captain. His 4,132 runs, puts him fourth in the list of the highest run-scorers in IPL history. In 123 games as captain, he has the fourth-best win percentage (57.31) among those who have led in more than 50 games in this format.
He also led Kolkata to two IPL titles, in 2012 and 2014. On the back of his current batting form, which he has displayed in the recently concluded Ranji season, and the amount of runs he has scored for the KKR last IPL, (with 415 runs, he was the second highest run-scorer last year),it was a bit of a surprise to see him not getting retained by Kolkata.
Even though he played only three seasons for Daredevils, (2008-2010), deep down he always wanted to return to the franchise. “I think my heart is still with Delhi…I played with them for three years, and somewhere, deep within my heart, I’d love to finish with Delhi,” he had said.
This time around, Gambhir will have the wisdom of coach Ricky Ponting at his disposal. The two would been keen on forging a winning formula, which could eventually pave the way to their maiden IPL title. “It is going to be great to work in unison with Ricky, an absolute champion himself,” he said.
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