The Indian Premier League (IPL) has had a major role to play in Shreyas Iyer’s rise and working with the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting for Delhi Capitals has helped him improve further. Iyer was promoted as the captain of the Delhi Capitals midseason in 2018 after Gautam Gambhir stepped down as skipper and he has since not looked back.
Iyer stamped his authority as a captain as he led Delhi Capitals to the playoffs last year for the first time in seven years. He recently opened up on working with Ganguly at Delhi Capitals and said the former Indian captain is tactically very good and had done his homework really well in the IPL during his stint with the franchise.
While Ganguly was the advisor of the franchise, former Australian captain Ponting is the head coach of Delhi Capitals. Ganguly had to step down from his post after he was appointed the new president of BCCI last year.
“The way they (Ganguly, Ponting) handled me it was really amazing. Before the games, I used to go to dada’s (Sourav Ganguly) room. He used to call me and ask me what team we will play. I feel he is really good tactically and he has done his study about all teams in the IPL. He knows what he is talking,” Iyer said on Cricbuzz‘s chat show Spicy Pitch.
“On the other hand, Ricky Ponting is a very personality to be with,” Iyer added speaking about the two-time World Cup-winning captain.
Iyer also spoke about his transformation as a batsman and how he has evolved as an aggressive player to someone who knows how to control the innings and play as per the situation. When asked what he would advise to a younger version of himself as the captain, the stylish right-hander said he would ask him to play like he does and not change anything.
“I would just let him be the way he is. I wouldn’t try to change anything in him. We have a player like that right now – Prithvi Shaw, he bats the way he wants to and you cannot control the way he thinks. If you want to play at the highest level, you have to do things differently, you can’t just copy others,” said Iyer.
