IPL 2018: Gautam Gambhir reveals the reasons behind his exclusion after giving up captaincy

Gautam Gambhir hasn’t had the most overwhelming times in the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He couldn’t lead the Delhi Daredevils (DD) to victories in their initial few matches and the franchise found their campaign in the doldrums. Thereafter, Gambhir resigned from his position as the captain of the team and Shreyas Iyer was appointed as the new skipper.

Subsequently, the left-hander didn’t play in DD’s match versus Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Feroz Shah Kotla. To add to his woes, he didn’t represent the team even once from then onwards. Recently, the veteran put light on the reasons why he wasn’t considered in the playing eleven.

“A lot of people asked me why I didn’t play after stepping down from captaincy. My reply is simple: I would have played had I been picked,” Gambhir wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.

A horrendous outing for Gambhir and Delhi

The Daredevils finished as the cellar dwellers of the points table having won five of their 14 matches. Prior to the event, they lost Kagiso Rabada owing to a back strain. Chris Morris played a few matches, but succumbed to the same injury and was ruled out. Gambhir also put forth undesired injuries and inconsistent shows as the reasons behind the franchise’s dismal performance.

“A lot of people also ask me where we went wrong. It is simple again: injuries to key players like Rabada and Morris, inability to build the right team combination, certain players not clicking, the team not playing important moments well and also the inability to handle pressure are all reasons for our failure,” the 36-year old cricketer added.

The Delhi bowlers have been taken to the cleaners on several occasions because of which they weren’t able to utilise the cushion of runs provided by their batsmen. “I have always believed it is bowlers who win you games whatever be the format. I think we lacked there,” he iterated.

Here is Gautam Gambhir’s journey

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