Ricky Ponting, head coach of Delhi Daredevils has backed Gautam Gambhir's decision to step down from captaincy after Delhi's dismal show in the eleventh edition of the IPL so far. 

Delhi has lost five out of their six games and are languishing at the bottom of the table. Ahead of this IPL season, there was a lot of buzz about Gautam Gambhir making a grand comeback to the franchise from where he started his IPL career. 

Gambhir stepping down from the post has now put Delhi in a spot of bother despite their decision of naming Shreyas Iyer for the rest of the season. 

Meanwhile, Ponting has come out backing Gambhir's decision saying  “Gautam deserves a lot of credit for taking the decision,” said Ponting when asked whether he was surprised an Indian captain has taken an Aussie-like decision. “Something that may have been unheard of in Indian cricket. Really, the media should give him some credit for his decision. It shows great character as a leader to stand up and say that.”

Gambhir started his campaign by scoring a fifty in Delhi's very first match of the season. Since then Gambhir's form has dipped and so has Delhi's. He has failed to produce the results and has also failed with the bat putting a question mark on his place in the eleven. Gambhir has aggregated just 85 in six matches, averaging just 17.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer sounded nervous and excited at the same time on being appointed as Delhi's next skipper for the season. “I thank the management, coach and gauti bhai (Gambhir), we have the potential to bounce back with eight games in hand. I really love the responsibility,” concluded Iyer.