As soon as the news of Steve Smith was taken by Delhi Capitals for a little over his base price of INR 2.20 crore, it also triggered a captaincy debate among the franchise’s fans considering the Aussie was leading the Rajasthan Royals outfit the season before. Delhi Capitals CEO Col. Vinod Bisht, however, has ruled out the idea of a captaincy change in the team.
“We back Shreyas (Iyer) when we promoted him to be the captain. Under him, the team came third in 2019 and reached the final in 2020. He is growing as a leader. I am sure the team will continue to do well under his leadership,” he was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
Delhi possess a few other former skippers in the line-up too. The likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane have also led Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals respectively on previous occasions. At DC, however, they serve the roles of a mentor and that is what Smith will be expected to do too.
“Any of the seniors who come in, be it Rahane, Ashwin or Steve Smith, they have a lot of knowledge to impart to the young camp. We expect all the seniors will continue to do so, including Steve Smith,” he said during the launch event of DC’s new IPL jersey.
“There was a lot of uncertainty. Idea is to have a balanced squad,” Bisht added.
Having reached the final last time around, the team bosses are determined to go one step ahead this time around.
“We had a young team which has been groomed for the last 3-4 years. Now they have flowered. If the youngsters continue to do well, we will look to have them with the two new teams coming in next year,” he concluded.
Iyer was made the captain of the franchise after Gautam Gambhir stepped down in the middle of the 2018 season. He has since done incredibly well and also led the team to its maiden final last season.
