New Delhi, Apr 25 (UNI) Gautam Gambhir on Wednesday stepped down as captain of Delhi Daredevils after the team's disastrous start in the ongoing IPL.
Middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer has been named skipper of the Daredevils.
Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Gambhir said: "It was my decision. I haven't contributed enough to the team. I had to take the responsibility being the leader of the ship. I feel it was the right time."
"May be I was too desperate to turn things around and that can backfire. It could be the reason. I just couldn't handle the pressure and when you don't do that, you have to own that up as a leader," Gambhir added.
"I want to thank the management and my coaches for appointing me as the captain of the team. It is a great honour for me," Iyer said after being appointed as the captain of DD.
Gambhir is the IPL's fourth-highest run-getter with 4217 from 152 innings and is credited with turning around KKR's fortunes with his innovative captaincy, crucial batting and selection of certain uncapped Indian and experienced overseas players, but whether he makes the Daredevils' playing XI now that he is not captain remains to be seen.
Gambhir, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles, returned to his first franchise as captain for the current season but the results have not been what the owners would have desired. The 36-year-old has so far managed 85 runs in five innings, of which 55 came in Daredevils' first game. Since then, his scores are 8, 3 and 4. His season strike-rate of 96.59 is higher than only Colin Munro (66), Daniel Christian (79.16) and Vijay Shankar (90).
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