IPL 2019: Shreyas Iyer inspired by Rohit Sharma's captaincy record ahead of the season

After years of disappointment, the Delhi Capitals (DC) have revamped all they could to turn things around in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting March 23. Besides changing the name from Daredevils to Capitals, the Delhi franchise has also made significant changes to their squads and a young captain at the helm makes it a side with a lot of potential. In fact, Shreyas Iyer, who will lead the side this year after taking over from a struggling Gautam Gambhir in the middle of the tournament last year, has precedents to take encouragement from.

In 2013, something similar had happened to Mumbai Indians (MI). Rohit Sharma had taken over the reins of captaincy from Ricky Ponting and went on to script their first title. They won the tournament twice more in the next three years, becoming one of the only two most successful teams in the IPL. Prior to that, MI’s best performance in the IPL was finishing runners-up in the 2010 edition.

Iyer can take heart from Rohit’s example. Though he could not do a Rohit of 2013 after taking over from Gambhir, Delhi won some matches towards the end last season. They finished last in the points table and have very little to lose this time.

We’ve seen him grow

Looking determined to overcome Delhi’s odd luck in the tournament (they haven’t made the last four since 2012), Shreyas Iyer is eager to take a leaf out of Rohit’s captaincy book. “He’s been a great inspiration for all the cricketers and we’ve seen him grow. Definitely, he’s one of the people I look up to personally. And yes, individually if you see he was also given that opportunity to lead the team,” he said while speaking exclusively to Cricket Country.

“I haven’t really spoken to him about captaincy or anything but you obviously pick up a few things from a good captain. So as far as I’m concerned, I just want to make the best use of it make things right for Delhi Capitals, which people think is impossible at the moment. I want to change that mindset and break the jinx,” he further added.

The 24-year-old sounded like a seasoned captain when he said that he was looking forward to each and every individual in the squad to have a productive season ahead and that it will be equally important for them to get the best out of the preparations they had for the IPL.

As a matter of fact, Iyer will go out to toss with Rohit in DC’s first game which is against MI at the Wankhede Stadium on March 24.

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