The big question circling around Delhi Capitals at the point is whether Rishabh Pant would continue to lead the franchise in the next season as well. Pant was made the captain after Shreyas Iyer picked an injury during an ODI match between India and England and was ruled out of the Indian Premier League 2021 season.

By the time the IPL 2021 season was halted midway due to the rising number of Covid cases in the tournament’s bio-bubble, Pant had led DC to the top of the IPL 2021 table.

Shreyas Iyer regained fitness by the time the UAE leg of IPL 2021 started, but DC management decided to stick with Pant as the captain for the rest of the season. DC finished on top of the IPL 2021 table in the round-robin stage, but then lost both the qualifiers against Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders and were knocked out of the tournament.

While Pant’s leadership skills have been praised by cricket pundits, with two more teams coming in from next season, should DC retain Pant as captain?

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In a recent interaction with ESPNCricinfo, former India cricketer and two-time IPL-winning captain Gautam Gambhir said that he thinks R Ashwin could lead DC next season.

Gambhir was asked if DC should retain Ashwin next season. In his reply, Gambhir said that he wishes to say both ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ because he feels if DC retain him, they should make him the captain.

“Look, I’m one of his biggest fans and he’s one of the best spinners in the world. If you look at the overall line-up, it may be a bizarre call maybe and only I can think about this… but if I was there, I would like to make him the captain of Delhi Capitals next year,” Gambhir said.

Meanwhile, a similar discussion took place involving Gambhir’s former India opening partner Virender Sehwag, and he said that he feels Pant can take over the captaincy role if DC do not find a better candidate in the mega auction next year.

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“DC should absolutely retain Rishabh Pant,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz. “But regarding captaincy, we don’t know which players the franchise will be able to buy in the auctions. So depending on that, if they get a better option to lead the team, then it is okay, but if they don’t, then they already have Pant, who has learnt a lot this season,” Sehwag signed off.