IPL 2021: Suresh Raina reacts to Rishabh Pant's appointment as Delhi Capitals captain

Rishabh Pant will have the added responsibility of leading Delhi Capitals in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The southpaw has been the team’s batting mainstay since his inaugural IPL season in 2016 and has now been rewarded with the captaincy post. The development comes following regular skipper Shreyas Iyer’s shoulder injury.

Iyer dislocated his left shoulder during the ODI series against England and has been ruled out of the entire IPL. In his absence, the onus will be on Pant to deliver as captain. The wicketkeeper-batsman will be the youngest captain in the upcoming season and will be also leading an IPL team for the very first time in his career.

Pant has been in stunning form this year. The southpaw had a poor 2020 where he lost his place in Team India’s playing eleven across formats and also had a poor IPL. But he has hit the ground running in 2021. At the start of the year, he starred in the Test series in Australia and recently impressed against England at home in all the formats.

Pant would be hoping that his fine form with the bat continues in his maiden IPL season as captain. Delhi Capitals are eyeing their first-ever IPL title this year and would be hoping that Pant turns out to be the lucky charm for them. The Delhi-based outfit made it to the final in the last edition and are one of the favourites in the upcoming season too.

Suresh Raina congratulates Rishabh Pant

As Rishabh Pant gears up to lead Delhi Capitals for the first time in his career, veteran batsman Suresh Raina has congratulated him on the appointment.

Keeping aside the IPL rivalry, the Chennai Super Kings stalwart took to Twitter to react to Pant’s appointment as he wrote, “Heartiest congratulations to @RishabhPant17 on being named the captain of @DelhiCapitals for this season. I am sure he will be a talismanic leader and will be donning this new cap with pride.”

Heartiest congratulations to @RishabhPant17 on being named the captain of @DelhiCapitals for this season. I am sure he will be a talismanic leader and will be donning this new cap with pride.🙌

— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) March 30, 2021

Meanwhile, Raina will also garner a lot of attention this year as he returns to the IPL after almost two years. The southpaw had skipped the last edition of the competition in the UAE citing personal reasons. CSK, however, had retained him for IPL 2021 and the senior batsman would be keen to repay the faith shown in him by the franchise.