IPL 2019: Shreyas Iyer Has Matured As A Captain This Year In The IPL – Ricky Ponting
May 12, 2019 at 10:50 AM
Delhi Capitals’ head coach Ricky Ponting has claimed that Shreyas Iyer has matured as a captain in IPL 2019.
After Gautam Gambhir stepped down from the captaincy role of the Delhi franchise in the middle of IPL 2018, Shreyas Iyer took this charge. In that short period, Iyer already impressed with his leadership role.
For the new season, while the management built up the team newly, they put the same faith on Iyer’s captaincy. Once again, Iyer has impressed and led the team for greater success.
DC played brilliantly in IPL 2019 as they finished this tournament at the third position. After six long years, the Delhi franchise finally qualified for the IPL playoffs after finishing at the third position in the points table. In the League Stage of IPL 2019, DC won nine matches out of 14 games and earned 18 points. Though they had equal points like the top two teams in the final points table, DC had the weaker net run-rate.
In the Eliminator of IPL 2019, DC beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by two wickets (with one ball remaining). It was the first victory for the Delhi franchise in any playoff/knockout stages.
However, the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) finished DC’s IPL 2019 journey in the Qualifier 2. On last Friday (10th May) night, DC suffered a six-wicket defeat against CSK in the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2019.
Shreyas Iyer has become more comfortable in his role this year – Ricky Ponting
After the end of their IPL 2019 campaign, DC head coach Ricky Ponting praised the captain Shreyas Iyer. The former Australian World Cup-winning captain claimed that Iyer became more comfortable as a captain in IPL 2019.
Ponting told Star Sports 1 Hindi, “Iyer did a good job as the successor to Gautam Gambhir last year. He had previous experience of being a captain for India A, Mumbai and Delhi and has matured as a captain this year in the IPL. He has become more comfortable in his role this year and we try to make his work easy by supporting him in every manner.”
Captain Shreyas Iyer also performed well as a batsman in IPL 2019. He finished this season as the third most run-scorer for his team. The 24-year-old right-handed batsman scored 463 runs in 16 innings with an average of 30.86. In this IPL season, he scored three half-centuries, including his best knock of 67 runs.
Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant finished as the top two run-scorers for this team in IPL 2019. On his return to the Delhi franchise, the left-handed opening batsman Dhawan scored 512 runs in 16 innings with an average of 34.73 and strike-rate of 135.67. On the other hand, the left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Pant scored 488 runs in 16 innings (average 37.53 and strike-rate 162.66).
In the meantime, young South African pacer Kagiso Rabada finished as the most wicket-taker for this team in IPL 2019. The 23-year-old right-arm pacer bagged 25 wickets in 12 matches with an impressive average of 14.72.