IPL 2021 – Delhi Capitals New Captain: The coach of Delhi Capitals (DC) Ricky Ponting has arrived, so are all the top players include captaincy contenders Rishabh Pant, R.Ashwin and others. DC in all likelihood will announce the name of new captain for IPL 2021 today that will go out for toss against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings on 10th April.
Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2021 campaign against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 10 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai but is yet to finalize their captain for the season after injury to Shreyas Iyer.
The name of the new captain can be announced today according to sources in DC.
IPL 2021 – Delhi Capital Captaincy Contenders: According to the information available DC promoters Kiran Kumar Gandhi and Parth Jindal along with coach Ricky Ponting will take final decision on the name of the new captain for DC.
InsideSport.co had reported last week that Rishabh Pant is the frontrunner for the captaincy for Delhi Capitals and in all probability will be handed over the captaincy of last year’s runners-up.
IPL 2021- Delhi Capitals New Captain: Names that can be discussed for captaincy role ?
Along with Pant, Delhi Capitals are currently spoilt for choices for the captaincy role. DC has Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, R Ashwin in their ranks. All of these names have experience of leading IPL franchise in the past but the source told InsideSport that DC is unlikely to look beyond Pant.
Rishabh Pant – Among all potential candidates, Pant is the only one who hasn’t captained any IPL franchise till date. Pant has been in tremendous form this year. Pant played a big role in India’s 3-1 Test series win against England, scoring 270 runs from six innings with the help of a century. Earlier he was one of the main reason India could defeat Australia on their own soil.
Pant also returned to India’s white-ball team against England. After a decent outing in the T20 Internationals, he was in cracking form in the ODI series, hitting 77 and 78 in the two matches he played.
R.Ashwin – The senior Indian spinner had led KingsXI Punjab for two seasons in 2018, 2019. Overall Ashwin has captaincy experience of 28 Matches, won 12 and lost 16. His record with KXIP was not too encouraging. Though considered as one of the best readers of the game, unlikely that DC will take a step back to handover captaincy to a player who failed as captain with some other franchise.
Steven Smith – 43 Matches, Won 25, Lost 17. Smith has huge experience to lead IPL franchises but the thing which goes against him is – that his place in the line-up is not very certain. He also failed to live up to expectations as captain of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020 – no chance that DC management will give captaincy to Smith.
Ajinkya Rahane – Super successful as captain of Indian test team in Australia. But he had a disaster of captaincy stint for Rajasthan Royals – unlikely that DC will go with Rahane as captain. His captaincy record reads – 25 Matches – Won 9 and lost 16.
In comparison Rishabh Pant has never led a IPL franchise but his exuberance, current form and most importantly his aggressive mindset works in his favor. Moreover DC has groomed him as a future leader for the last 2 years by appointing him as vice-captain in 2019, 2020. All of this points that Delhi Capitals is unlikely to look beyond Pant for captaincy role
Meanwhile champion Indian wicketkeeper batsman Pant arrived in Mumbai on Monday to join the Delhi Capitals squad ahead of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which begins on April 9.
DC vs CSK in IPL 2021: Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2021 campaign against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 10 at the Wankhede Stadium
IPL 2021: Ajay Ratra named as team’s assistant coach for the season
Earlier last week, the Delhi-based franchise announced the appointment of former India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra as the team’s assistant coach. On his appointment, Ratra in a statement, said: “I am honoured to join Delhi Capitals as an assistant coach. This is a very exciting team to work with, abundant with talent. I can’t wait to meet the team and contribute to its success. I am grateful to the Delhi Capitals management for giving me this wonderful opportunity.”
DC vs CSK in IPL 2021: Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2021 campaign against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 10 at the Wankhede Stadium