Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting departed for India on Sunday for the upcoming Indian Premier League season which begins on April 9. Ponting will reach Mumbai, where his team is stationed, and undergo a week-long quarantine before entering the bio-secure environment. His first task will be to finalise the captain of the Delhi Capitals squad after regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out, possibly for the entire season, after dislocating his shoulder in the first ODI against England last Tuesday.
Rishabh Pant, Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane are favourites to take over the mantle of captaincy from Iyer. Delhi Capitals had finished runners-up during the last edition and a lot of credit was accorded to the way Ponting had inspired his team through the season. Delhi Capitals start their IPL season on April 10 in Mumbai taking on Chennai Super Kings in a night game. Iyer was slated to lead the Delhi Capitals franchise in the upcoming IPL 2021 season. He was one of the 19 cricketers to have been retained by the franchise on January 20 alongside the likes of captain Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant among others. In the recently concluded auction, the last year's finalists, brought the likes of Steve Smith, Manimaran Siddharth, Tom Curran, Umesh Yadav, Lukman Meriwala, Vishnu Vinod, Ripal Patel and Sam Billings. Delhi Capitals start their IPL season on April 10 in Mumbai taking on Chennai Super Kings in a night game.
