Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey

Who should be the Delhi Capitals Captain for IPL 2021? | A look at who Ricky Ponting should choose as captain of Delhi Capitals in 2021

Delhi Capitals were dealt with a huge blow ahead of the IPL 2021 after their captain Shreyas Iyer dislocated his shoulder while diving in the 1st ODI between India and England. The Indian batsman has been ruled out of the upcoming edition of the IPL and the franchise will now have to look at options to replace Iyer at the helm. 

The 26-year-old took over as the skipper of the franchise in the middle of the IPL 2018, when Gautam Gambhir relinquished leadership duties and dropped himself from the playing XI. In his first full season as the captain of the Delhi Capitals, he led the team to their first playoff finish in 8 years. DC lost the Qualifier 2 to the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2019 but it was an impressive start to Iyer’s captaincy career. In the last edition of the IPL, the Delhi Capitals finished as runners-up in the UAE. 

The Capitals will explore the other alternatives who can lead the franchise and we will analyse what they bring to the table. 

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin was the captain of the Kings XI Punjab in the 2018 and 2019 edition of the IPL, but it didn’t yield much success as the franchise failed to make it to the playoffs in both the editions. 

KXIP started off winning 5 out of the 6 matches in the 2018 edition but tapered off towards the end of the campaign and a similar story panned out during the following edition. The off-spinner was traded to DC ahead of the IPL 2020 and he picked 13 wickets in the tournament at an economy rate of 7.66. 

Ashwin has shown a lot of potential as a leader and although it hasn’t translated to success on the field, the DC management might take a punt on making him the captain.  

Steve Smith

With Ricky Ponting at the helm, Steve Smith could be the front-runner to lead the Delhi Capitals. Smith was roped in at the auction for 2.2 crores by the Delhi Capitals after he was released by the Rajasthan Royals. 

Under Smith’s leadership, the Royals finished with the wooden spoon in the previous edition of the IPL. However, in the past, he has done well as the skipper in the IPL. He led the Rising Pune Supergiant to the Final in the 2017 IPL, leading a team which had the likes of MS Dhoni and Rahane in it. 

However, Smith as a batsman isn’t a lock for the Delhi Capitals as they already have the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer for the foreign slots. If the team management gives Smith the captaincy duties, the balance of the side might get affected. 

Rishabh Pant

Pant was in the running to replace Gautam Gambhir as the skipper of the franchise in 2018, but lost out to Shreyas Iyer due to his inexperience at the time. In the last 3 years, Pant has matured as a batsman and cemented his place in the DC line-up. 

It will be a good opportunity for the wicket-keeper batsman who was the deputy skipper in the IPL 2020. It should have been an automatic choice but with a lot of alternatives, Pant might not get an opportunity to replace Iyer at the helm. 

In the past, Pant was the skipper of the Delhi state team and he did well as a captain as they finished as the runners-up of the Ranji Trophy 2017. However, the southpaw’s batting was affected as he added just 315 runs and averaged 35 in the tournament. 

Prithvi Shaw

Someone who has an outside chance of becoming the captain of the franchise is opener Prithvi Shaw. After a poor outing in IPL 2020 and the horrid tour to Australia in which he played just a solitary Test match, Shaw turned his fortunes in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. As the skipper of the Mumbai team, Shaw scored 865 runs, the most by a player in the history of the tournament. He scored at an average of 165 and a strike rate of close to 140. 

Clearly leadership hasn’t affected his batting like it did to Pant a couple of years back. 

He led Mumbai to the title in India’s premier List-A competition. Will DC give Shaw the responsibility like they did to a young Shreyas Iyer a couple of years back?

Analysing the options, it looks like an Indian player might be the best option for the franchise but the coach and the decision-makers might think otherwise.

Written by Sarthak Karkhanis. Follow Sarthak on Twitter today.