IPL 2020 | Feel blessed to be working with Ricky Ponting, expresses Shreyas Iyer
Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer feels lucky to be working alongside the legendary Ricky Ponting. Iyer is also quite confident that senior players like Ashwin and Rahane will add more to his captaincy this season and feels he can share ideas and rely on them, given both have captained in the IPL.
Much like Rohit Sharma for Mumbai Indians in 2013, Shreyas Iyer was handed over the reins of Delhi Capitals mid-way in the 2018 edition of the IPL after Gautam Gambhir stepped down from captaincy. One similar thing in both cases was the role of Ricky Ponting. After Ponting called it quits from captaining Mumbai in 2013, he helped in Rohit Sharma's transition as a leader in the role of a player-cum-coach.
Ponting was there for Iyer as well and, since then, the former Australian skipper has played a prominent role in the growth of Shreyas the captain. The Ponting-Iyer combination reaped fruits last year when Delhi Capitals progressed to play-offs and performed like a top side and the 25-year-old Indian has now expressed his delight to be able to work alongside the legendary Australian.
“I feel blessed to be working with someone as Ricky Ponting’s stature so closely. He is such a legend and makes everyone from the most senior one to the newest guy feel at home and as a part of the unite,” Iyer said in a video released on IPL's twitter handle.
Delhi Capitals, ahead of the season, secured the services of experienced campaigners R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane and Iyer is visibly happy to have experience of both the 'highly knowledgeable' cricketers in the side. The 25-year-old is further confident about forming a good alliance with the duo.
“Ashwin and Rahane are both individuals who are highly knowledgeable as players and have captained IPL teams before. So for me, this is an opportunity to use as a captain. I can reach out to them when I want to, and share and discuss with them,” said the 25-year-old batsman.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has completely transformed how cricket is played. As unimaginable as it is, there will be no packed-houses in IPL, this time, but Iyer has claimed that he will use empty stands as motivation to give back to the fans as much as he can.
“It’s certainly very very different from the last season but challenges excite me. And as a captain, it is certainly going to be one of my most important assignments, just because of how different the setting is. It’s going to be a different IPL no doubt. And we will be without our fans in the stadium. But I think, that only makes us extra motivated to do this for them, the fans," Iyer asserted.
The 2020 IPL will commence from September 19 and will come to an end on November 10. Earlier, it was supposed to kick-start from March 29 but due to the novel Coronavirus, it got postponed and could only be scheduled after ICC postponed the 2020 T20 Men's World Cup.