Reports: Gautam Gambhir won't take any salary from DD, to play for free

The Delhi Daredevils are in trouble. The team bought some exciting players in the auction but halfway through the round robin stage they’ve lost five out of six matches and their skipper has stepped down. Gautam Gambhir, who is an extremely popular and successful Indian Premier League (IPL) captain having led Kolkata Knight Riders to multiple titles was brought into the side to lead them and bring the kind of success they’ve never witnessed.

KKR let Gautam go and Daredevils signed him for INR 2.8 crore in the IPL 2018 auction. The young team with the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and others was expected to revolve around the senior pro. He led them from the front with the bat in the first match scoring a half century but they lost the game and since Gambhir has only managed single-digit returns and DD a single win against Mumbai Indians.

As a result, he decided to give away captaincy and hand it over to someone who will be able to lead the team in the future as well. The DD management picked Iyer as the new captain and he will take charge for the remainder of the tournament. Reports now claim that the former DD captain has decided that he will not take any salary from the team for representing them this season. The major reason why he stepped down and for this call to forego his salary is that he has failed to deliver individually as well.

Won’t take any salary

“Gautam has decided that he won’t take any salary from the franchise for the season. He will play remaining part of IPL for the Delhi Daredevils for free,” News18 quoted a source privy to the development said.

“Gautam is someone who puts pride above everything else. He has been a proud performer. He doesn’t want to take any money and it’s a very personal call. In fact, he wanted to quit just after the KXIP game,” the source added.
A lot of experts have already claimed this could be Gambhir’s last IPL and thus he was keen on playing it for Delhi.

“I don’t know, it’s too early for me to decide on that. Let me sit down and decide. I have to think where my game goes and I go as an individual,” Gambhir said at the media interaction.

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