‘I couldn’t handle the pressure’ says Gautam Gambhir
KOLKATA: Having relinquished captaincy of Delhi Daredevils, Gautam Gambhir has decided to forego his entire Rs 2.8 crore salary while taking responsibility for the team’s disastrous run in the ongoing Indian Premier League.After the team found itself at the bottom of the points-table, with eight matches to go in the league, the left-hander announced his decision to step down as captain and handed over the reigns to Shreyas Iyer.
Shreyas Iyer of Delhi Daredevils plays a shot during his knock of 96 runs against Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 Twenty20 Championship at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.
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Confirming the murmurs that were making the rounds on Wednesday afternoon, Gambhir said, “Absolutely my decision. I thought that I hadnot contributed enough and at the same time, to the performance of the team. I had to take the responsibility being the leader of the ship.
Iowe that responsibility as I should as leader. I feel this is the right time (to step down as captain). We are very much in the competition. So this was the right time to put my hand up and where we stand in the points-table. No pressure from the franchisee. They’ve been very supportive of the decision. When your conscience says it’s the right time, you just take that.”
Probed to be more specific, Gambhir said, “May be I was too desperate to turn things around and at times, it can backfire as well. Because, sometimes, you are too eager and too desperate to turn things around that it makes things hard on your own self. That could be the reason. Sometimes you realise that, may be, I just could not handle the pressure, which came with the position and the responsibility that I was given.
“Sometimes, when you are not able to handle that pressure, your performance plus your team’s performance, you got to owe that up as a leader. May be I was too desperate than I should have been, to be honest. When I was sitting alone and thinking after the last game, may
be that was the reason I could not fire. I could not handle the pressure. I have always been honest about what I say and one reason is absolutely this one.
Gambhir, who has so far scored 85 runs in five innings, said, “May be coming back to Delhi (after playing for Kolkata Knight Riders for seven season) was an emotional decision, as well. Sometimes when your emotions get the better of you, and then you are so desperate to turn things around. That’s the only thing I can think of, at this moment. It’s early in the tournament to reflect on what actually went wrong (with DD’s performance so far).
DD’s CEO Hemant Dua confirmed that Gambhir would, “continue to be a player-mentor and play a bigger role for all of us.”On his part, Iyer said, “I think it is a great honour to lead Delhi daredevils. We still have a lot of potential as a team to win the tournament. We have eight games in our hands. There are lots of us who believe that we can do something great. And obviously with the help of them, I don’t see any negative thoughts coming to my mind.
”Coach Ricky Ponting congratulated Gambhir for putting the team ahead of self. “Having been in the same situation many years ago, I knowit’s a tough decision to make…, to put the hand up and say his performance has not been good enough.” (With Agency Inputs ).
