When the Delhi Daredevils team management sat down to chalk up a plan for the IPL Player auction earlier this year, Gautam Gambhir must have been a crucial topic of discussion.

The batsman has led Delhi in the past, before being let go in 2011. Then, he was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders and made captain of a team that was struggling to make the last four.

But with the Delhi batsman at the helm, they reached their first playoffs in 2011 and went on to win two IPL titles and become one of the most consistent teams in the league. He was hailed as a great captain and had the numbers to back it.

Seven years later, when the IPL teams were being redrawn, most would have expected KKR to retain their successful captain or at least use the Right To Match at get him in the auction. But they didn’t, on his own insistence.

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KKR Co-owner Shah Rukh Khan later revealed it was to be a homecoming of sorts because Gambhir had himself requested to leave the Kolkata franchise. He was to return as the captain of his home team and hope to revive the fortunes of IPL’s perennials under achievers.

Terrible start to 2018 season

But that didn’t go to plan, as DD continued its consistent pattern of mediocrity. They are currently at the bottom of the table after five losses in six games.

But it is the close four-run loss to Kings XI Punjab at home that prompted him to step down from the captaincy saying that his own batting failures indicate that he is not good enough to lead. The 36-year-old will be replaced by the 26-year-old Shreyas Iyer for the rest of the season. It is not clear if he is going to continue in the playing XI, but he is going to be around as mentor for Iyer.

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So what exactly went wrong for Gambhir and Delhi?

He scored a half century against Kings XI Punjab in the season’s first match but has gone through a lean patch since then, and as an opener his slump has affected the team as well. Add to that, as he admitted himself, he is 36 which has also helped come to this decision of the “conscience”.

DD’s perennial leadership problem

Getting the 36-year-old in to lead the new-look DD under Ricky Ponting seemed like a smart move from the camp. The team has generally lacked strong leadership figures with several big names failing to launch DD into the top of the table. Barring three years – 2007, 2009 and 2012 – the team has never made it to the last four. This list included the likes of Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen, David Warner, JP Duminy, Dinesh Karthik and Zaheer Khan.

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Off the lot, only Sehwag has won more matches than he has lost for the team. Everyone else, has a win record of under 50.

Sehwag stepped down as Delhi captain after the first season of the IPL, handing over the reins to Gambhir for the 2009 and 2010 season. The first year saw them top the table with Gambhir having a 75% win record as captain (they lost to Deccan Chargers in the semi-final) and in the second they missed the playoffs on account of run rate in the second.

But despite this success, Gambhir was in the market in the 2011 auctions, as DD rebooted their entire franchise. But KKR swooped in making him the most expensive player at the auction for $2.4 million. He went on to win the title with them in 2012 and 2014. However, he never matched his match winning percentage at Delhi with KKR, his 2009 record still remains his best as captain.

Gambhir is also among the top five most successful captain in IPL history, and not just because of his two trophies. He has a win record of 55%, behind MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Roit Sharma and Shane Warne. He is also only the second skipper after Dhoni to have led in over a 100 matches over the course of 10 seasons, which makes his win record even more impressive.

It is certain that we have seen the last of Gambhir the captain. However, if Delhi’s record is anything to go by, the veteran is not the only source of the problems. New captain Iyer and Ponting will have to dig deep and almost pull off a miracle to save this season.