IPL 2021: Will Delhi Capitals replace Rishabh Pant as captain with 'THIS' player in UAE?

Ahead of the second phase of IPL 2021, which is just a couple of weeks away, the Delhi Capitals team received great news with regular skipper, Shreyas Iyer returning back to full fitness. Iyer had missed the phase of the tournament due to injury and will look to perform well in order to stay in contention for a place in the T20 World Cup squad. While the news of Iyer returning back to the team is a major boost to the team, the management will have a lot of thinking to do in terms of captaincy for the UAE leg of the tournament.

IPL 2021 phase 2: Captaincy debate between Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer

Rishabh Pant was appointed as the skipper of the team due to Iyer's injury but with the regular skipper set to take the field, the big question is whether Delhi Capitals will keep Pant as the skipper or hand over the captaincy hat to Iyer. Under Pant's captaincy, Delhi Capitals are at the top of the table with half the tournament completed. The team has six wins and two losses from the eight matches played so far. 

According to a report by Insidesport,  Iyer is already in the UAE with the fitness coach and waiting for his teammates to join him. An official close to the team said, "Shreyas Iyer is already in the UAE with a fitness coach. The captain issue is still undecided, either it will be Pant or Iyer, the team management has not yet decided on this."

He further stated that the team will be in quarantine for a week before leaving for the UAE. "Delhi Capitals will leave on Saturday early morning to the UAE for IPL 2021. The team will leave from Delhi with domestic players and officials. Domestic players are already in quarantine in the national capital and they will be quarantined in the UAE for a week. Post quarantine their camp will be starting".

IPL 2021 full schedule

The cash-rich league will re-start from 19th September 19 with the final set to be played on 15th October. A total of 31 matches will be played in the given time frame. There are also going to be seven double-headers with the first match starting at 3:30 pm IST and the second match at 7:30 pm IST. Most of the 31 matches will be played in Dubai (13), followed by Sharjah (10) and Abu Dhabi (8). The final match of the league stage will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals on 8th October. The knockout stage of the premier T20 competition will begin on 10th October with Qualifier 1 taking place in Dubai, the Eliminator and Qualifier 2 in Sharjah on 11th and 13th October, respectively.