While Gambhir is being hailed as a hero for his courageous call, he isn't the first player to relinquish captaincy in the middle of the T20 tournament.
Gautam Gambhir stepped down as captain of the Delhi Daredevils (DD) on Wednesday, saying he hasn't done justice to his position as a leader. The 36-year-old has been replaced by young Shreyas Iyer as the skipper of DD for the remainder of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018.
While Gambhir is being hailed as a hero for his courageous call, he isn't the first player to relinquish captaincy in the middle of the T20 tournament. There have been eight men in the past who have stepped down as captain in the middle of a season.
One of those men is none other than current DD coach Ricky Ponting. The legendary former Australian captain quit Mumbai Indians' captaincy back in 2013, with Rohit Sharma taking over and leading the side to its maiden title triumph.
"Taking a call like this isn't heard of in India. For someone of his stature and cricketing record, to take a decision like this is incredible. He deserves a lot of credit. I have a lot of respect for him. I did the same thing when I was a player for Mumbai Indians. I knew that I had better players that I was keeping out of the side. And obviously Gautam's decided to do the right thing," said Ponting.
Gambhir, however, will continue to be a part of the team for the remaining eight games. The India discard, who led KKR to two IPL titles and played international cricket for over a decade, said he was not able to handle the captaincy pressure.
"The bell started ringing after the last game (against KXIP at Kotla) and it was time to take the call. My own performance has not been upto the mark. Maybe I was too desperate to turn things around," Gambhir said. "I was sitting alone and thinking, I couldn't handle the pressure... I was not good enough and that is all," he added.
The experienced combine of Gambhir and Ponting were roped in by the franchise ahead of the season, hoping that it would result in a successful season. However, it has proved to be exactly the opposite with Delhi losing five out of their six games.
On the personal front, Gambhir's performance was below-par by his own standards. He scored 55 in the opening game before failing in the next four innings. The southpaw insisted that he was not pressurised to quit and it was rather his own decision. "It is solely my decision and there was no pressure from the franchise. As I said, my performance was not upto the mark and I just could not handle the pressure. That could be one reason (for stepping down)," said Gambhir.
(Inputs from PTI)
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 "Ricky Ponting (L) and Gautam Gambhir")
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