3 current DC players who have previously been full-time captains in the IPL
The Delhi Capitals, formerly known as the Delhi Daredevils, have not always been a side in contention for the IPL trophy. Despite having had a combination of talent and IPL greats over the years, they have never been able to reach even the finals of the league. They had their most successful season in 2019, where they reached the playoff stages of the tournament.
However, things have looked different for the Delhi Capitals over the last couple of years. Going by the team on paper, they are surely a force to be reckoned with in the 2020 season of the IPL.
After the rebranding from 'Delhi Daredevils' to 'Delhi Capitals' took place, the side has looked like a different outfit altogether. With young Shreyas Iyer donning the hat of the captain, the team was already full of young talents such as the likes of Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, and Kagiso Rabada.
To add to that list, Delhi went on to pick more young explosive talent to their roster in the IPL 2020 auction, when they signed players such as Shimron Hetmyer and Alex Carey. This ensured that they had a plethora of options in every department, in case replacements are ever needed.
However, with a team full of young talent, the only category they lacked was that of experienced campaigners.
This year, they've invested heavily in that very category that they now have a pool of players who have been full-time captains in the past. With options such as these players in their roster, it is certain that Shreyas Iyer will have more than adequate help in the team's strategy sessions.
Here are 3 such players who are now a part of DC and have captained their former teams for entire editions of the previous IPL seasons.
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin
The veteran off-spinner and Indian test team mainstay came in as a revelation under MS Dhoni's captaincy at the Chennai Super Kings back in 2008.
Over the years, Ravichandran Ashwin came to be known as a thinking cricketer capable of drawing up his own plans for the opposition. After his stint with the Rising Pune Super Giants ended in 2017, Ashwin was brought into the Kings XI Punjab unit and was appointed as their captain with big names playing under him.
Having gotten the dream start to an IPL campaign if there ever was one, in 2018, KXIP ended up not making the playoffs from a position where it was harder not to reach the knockouts. The franchise did not make it to the playoffs in 2019 either, and managed to finish in 6th place. The off-spinner has captained his side in 28 IPL matches, out of which he has 12 wins and 16 losses to his name.
However, this by no means takes away anything from the strategic thinking ability of R Ashwin. With the experience he brings in apart from his confident character, he would certainly be an important part of Shreyas Iyer's leadership unit for the Delhi Capitals' 2020 IPL campaign.