IPL 2021 | Going to keep things simple and give my 100% on captaincy debut, stresses Rishabh Pant

Delhi Capitals were dealt with a big blow when skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the IPL after injuring himself in the first ODI against England. While that came at the wrong time for the franchise, the last year finalists were quick in reacting to the situation, making Rishabh Pant as their skipper, ahead of Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane or Ravichandran Ashwin. 

Ahead of his first game, which is touted as ‘Apprentice vs Master,’ Rishabh Pant stressed the importance of keeping things simple. The wicketkeeper-batsman also admitted that he would give 100% to the team on his captaincy debut, with Delhi taking on the under-performers Chennai Super Kings. 

"I haven't thought about the fact that it's my first match as captain in the IPL. I am just going to keep things simple and give my 100 percent. You get a good idea about setting fields as a wicketkeeper and now as captain I will be making the changes in the field directly,” said Pant, reported Times of India. 

"So, there's not going to be much of a difference for me," he added.

Luckily for Pant, he has a plethora of stars, who all have had assumed leadership roles in the past around him to help. Reflecting on that, Pant admitted that he has been talking to the seniors in the dressing room about the strategic decisions for the team. 

"I have been talking to the senior players like Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane about the fields we can set and other strategic decisions for the team," Pant insisted.

The wicketkeeper also reckoned that he got a good chat with both their head coach Ricky Ponting and bowling coach, James Hopes. Alongside that, the 23-year-old also insisted that the franchise can do something different this year, after reaching the final last season for the first time in their IPL history. 

"I have been talking to Ricky and our bowling coach James Hopes as well. There's a good mix of seniors and juniors in our squad and I think with the help of Ricky, we can do something different this year."