IPL 2021: Shreyas Iyer reacts to Delhi Capitals sticking with Rishabh Pant as skipper

The return of Shreyas Iyer is a massive boost to the Delhi Capitals (DC). Iyer missed the first leg of IPL after sustaining a shoulder injury during England ODIs. In the absence of Iyer, Delhi Capitals handed their reins to Rishabh Pant, who did exceptionally well, leading the team to six wins in eight games. With Iyer regaining peak fitness before the second leg, DC was in dilemma to hand the captaincy back to Iyer, who led them to the final in the previous season, or stick with Pant. The franchise made a bold move and allowed Pant to lead in IPL 2021.

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Pant and Iyer stitched an unbeaten 67 run partnership to hand Delhi Capitals their seventh win of the season. After the match, Iyer was asked about DC’s decision to stick with Pant as skipper to which the batter said he respects the decision of the franchise.

"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.

"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.

"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 mind-set.

Chasing 136, Delhi Capitals cruised to a win by 8 wickets. Iyer looked in top form and scored a brisk unbeaten 47 from 41 balls. Talking about his innings, Iyer said, “Even today (Wednesday) when I went in, there was pressure to win the game. The wicket was playing uneven, so the mind-set 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 signed off.