IPL 2021: Respect Delhi Capitals’ decision to let Rishabh Pant stay as captain – Shreyas Iyer

Delhi Capitals’ batsman Shreyas Iyer has said that he respects the franchise decision to let Rishabh Pant stay as captain despite the fact he has recovered from a shoulder injury.

Iyer suffered a shoulder injury in the limited-overs series against England and thus was ruled out of the first phase of IPL 2021.

Meanwhile, Pant led Delhi Capitals to six wins in eight matches in the first leg of IPL 2021 and the franchise decided to retain him as captain for the second leg. Delhi wanted to give more time to Iyer after recovering from his injury and the Mumbai batsman totally understands the situation.

Iyer added that he was in a different frame of mind when he was handed over the captaincy bridle of Delhi Capitals after Gautam Gambhir decided to relinquish his duties in 2018.

“When I was given the captaincy, I was in a different frame of mind and my decision-making and temperament level was very good and I benefited from it in the last two years,” Iyer said at the post-match press conference.

“This is part of the decision-making from the franchise or whatever decision they took, I respect the fact and Rishabh is leading the side well from the start of the season and they thought that he should be continued till the season end and I completely respect the decision,” he added.

Meanwhile, Iyer scored an unbeaten knock of 47 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday and finished the match with a six to take his team over the line.

Thus, the right-hander made a roaring comeback to competitive cricket after a gap of more than six months. In fact, Iyer was struggling to get going in the initial phase of his innings but was able to gain confidence as the innings progressed. Iyer admitted that nothing has changed for him and there is no drastic change in his focus and batting role.

“And no drastic change has come that my focus has increased in batting. when I was captain, I like to soak in the pressure, when there is pressure, there are more challenges and, in such situations, I perform, that is my mindset,” he added.

“Even today (Wednesday) when I went in, there was pressure to win the game. The wicket was playing uneven, so the mindset is the same that being a main part of the team, you have to finish the match and whenever I play, my mindset is that I play till the last ball and see to it that I make the team win,” he said.

Delhi Capitals will next face Rajasthan Royals at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on 25th September.