DNA Explainer: In Shreyas Iyer's absence, who should lead Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021?While the form of players like Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel during the recently concluded India-England series across formats will keep the Delhi Capitals franchise in good stead ahead of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), they were landed a body blow before the start of the season as their skipper and one of the main batsmen in the line-up, Shreyas Iyer is on the verge of getting ruled out from the entirety of the lucrative tournament.

So, now part from finalising the first XI, the last year's runners-up have a major decision to take as to who will step in Iyer's shoes, after all, Iyer became the first captain in the history of the league to take a Delhi team to the final. A captaincy change in the middle of the 2018 season and the then 23-year old was handed the reigns of the perennial underperformers of the league.

A change in the name, branding and the colours of the side as they became Capitals from Daredevils brought a turnaround of fortunes for the Delhi-based franchise as they qualified for the knockouts in both seasons. In 2019, they lost to the Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 2 but they went further next year as they reached the first-ever final for a Delhi team in the IPL. Even though they lost the final, the Delhi side under Iyer and coach Ricky Ponting has seen a resurgence like no other and an injury to the skipper could prove to be detrimental to the team's chances in the upcoming season.

It doesn't mean that the team doesn't have able captaincy options or good batsmen in the line-up, but Iyer's absence is surely going to affect the team's balance as the team will not just have to look at an inspiring captaincy choice, but also an able No 3 batsman, who can score runs in both gears.