Picture Credit: Twitter
The Indian Premier League is all set to enter a new era with two new teams - Ahmedabad and Lucknow - set to join the previous eight franchises. Ahead of the next season, mega auctions are slated to take place and all the sides find themselves in a very tricky situation. Only 4 players can be retained by each franchise and the deadline to submit the list of same is November 30.
Therefore, IPL retentions have become a trending topic now and Ravichandran Ashwin decided to reflect on the situation with Gaurav Sundararaman. The duo had a discussion on all the teams as they looked at the possible names of players who would be retained by their respective franchises. However, the off-spinner made a huge revelation when it was time to discuss about Delhi Capitals.
I would have known if I were there: Ravichandran Ashwin
Gaurav Sundararaman claimed that Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant are two players who will be retained by DC for sure. While adding that Anrich Nortje could be the possible option among the overseas player, he admitted that he was unsure about the fourth player that the franchise would be looking to retain. "They have lot of options, they have you, they have Axar, they have Shreyas Iyer, they have Shikhar Dhawan," said Gaurav.
This is when Ravichandran Ashwin decided to join the discussion and solve a bit of mystery for his friend. "Shreyas isn't there I think, I am not there. So someone else would have to come," Ashwin said, presumably ruling out the possibility of him and former DC captain Shreyas Iyer getting retained by the franchise. The 35-year-old added that he would have known if his name was there in list of players set to be retained by DC.
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Rishabh Pant set to be the DC captain
Considering the statements made by Ravichandran Ashwin, it looks certain that Delhi Capitals are likely to continue with Rishabh Pant as the captain of franchise. The explosive wicketkeeper had taken over the leadership duties before the beginning of IPL 2021 after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out due to an injury.
Even when Iyer made a return to the side in second phase of the season, DC persisted with Pant as the skipper and went to semi-finals of the tournament. However, it was probably a signal by the franchise that they are looking to build their team around Pant for years to come with Iyer probably not in their scheme of things. With so many speculations going around, the whole mystery is set to be solved when the list of retained players will be confirmed by franchise at the end of this month.