IPL 2021: Delhi Capitals to continue with Shreyas Iyer as captain, assign role for new recruit Steve Smith

Under Iyer’s captaincy, DC played the IPL final last season.

Shreyas Iyer | IANSDelhi Capitals (DC) might have roped in Australia’s star batsman Steve Smith at the IPL 2021 auction, but Shreyas Iyer will continue to lead the franchise in the upcoming season.

Under Iyer’s captaincy, the Capitals qualified to the play-offs in the 2019 edition and were the runners-up last season.

"We backed Shreyas 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," DC CEO Col. Vinod Bisht told TOI on Friday (March 19).

"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 added.

See Also: Delhi Capitals unveil their new jersey for upcoming IPL

Delhi Capitals have invested heavily in young cricketers over the last five years and they are now reaping the rewards.

"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," Bisht said.

Since the venues were undecided at the time of auction last month, Bisht said the focus was to form a well-rounded bowling attack.

"There was a lot of uncertainty. Idea is to have a balanced squad," he stated.

Having entered the IPL 2021 auction with the available purse of INR 12.80 Crore, DC bought 8 players including the likes of Smith, Umesh Yadav, Sam Billings and Tom Curran.

Among the promising domestic cricketers, Delhi fetched Lukman Meriwala, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod and Manimaran Siddharth.

IPL 2021 is due to begin on April 9, with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the tournament opener at Chepauk.

DC will open their campaign against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 10 in Mumbai.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 20 Mar, 2021

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