IPL 2018: Gautam Gambhir to Sit Out as Delhi Daredevils Likely to Retain Winning Combination

Former Delhi Daredevils captain, Gautam Gambhir, looks all set to sit out of Delhi’s next tie against Chennai Super Kings to be played today (April 30) in Pune.

As per a report in TOI, Delhi Daredevils is not expected to make any changes to the playing XI, and Gambhir will once again sit on the bench, as a player cum mentor.

He had himself decided to sit out of the playing XI for Delhi Daredevils’ previous game, as he felt he did not deserve a place in the playing XI after poor form with the bat.

“I didn’t make any call, to be honest. It wasn’t my decision to drop him. He himself decided to sit out, which was really courageous decision with him being the captain in the previous matches. The respect for him has gone really high. It’s really [good to] see when a captain if he’s not playing well, he backs out. Colin [Munro] came in and gave us the desired start,” Shreyas Iyer, Delhi Daredevils’ new captain had said after the previous game.

Gambhir had relinquished the captaincy a day ahead of the game after Delhi Daredevils’ poor form.

Gambhir continued to work in team’s favour and also sat out to give an opportunity to Colin Munro to once again open the innings. Delhi Daredevils posted their second win of the season when Shreyas Iyer led his side to a comfortable victory over Kolkata Knight Riders.

Batting first, Delhi posted 219/4 on the board with Iyer himself playing a match-winning knock of 93* off 40. Colin Munro and Prithvi Shaw, the two openers, shared 59 runs for the first wicket in seven overs. While Munro scored 33 off 18, Shaw smashed 62 off 42. They provided a great start to the team which Iyer carried till the end.

The team would be hoping both the openers to provide a good start again so as succeeding batsmen can cash on it in the later part.

On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings will be forced to make some changes to their squad, as Deepak Chahar has been ruled out of IPL for two weeks at least.

CSK might include a foreign recruit to fill the void, which means one of four foreigners will sit out, and that could be Imran Tahir.