Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant didn’t have a great time with the willow in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, but his leadership was very well appreciated. In his debut season as the captain of DC, he guided the previous season’s finalists to finish at the top of the points table.
However, DC failed to qualify for the IPL 2021 final after losing both Qualifiers against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), respectively.
Notably, Pant was appointed as the captain in the absence of Shreyas Iyer ahead of the start of the fourteenth season. In fact, DC kept him as skipper of DC even after Iyer’s return from injury prior to the UAE leg.
There is no doubt that Pant proved his captaincy abilities by leading DC to the playoffs comfortably, but former Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir think otherwise. Gambhir want DC to head into the new season with a different captain.
In a chat with ESPNcricinfo, Gambhir backed senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to lead the Capitals for IPL 2022. Although the ex-India cricketer mentioned it might appear as a bizarre call, he would still back Ashwin as the captain for the upcoming season.
“Look, I’m one of his biggest fans, and he’s one of the best spinners in the world. If you look at the overall line-up, it may be a bizarre call maybe, and only I can think about this… but if I was there, I would like to make him the captain of Delhi Capitals next year,” said Gambhir.
Ashwin had previously led Punjab Kings (PBKS) for two seasons in 2018 and 2019 before being traded to the Capitals. KL Rahul replaced the Tamil Nadu cricketer at the helm for the Mohali-based franchise.
