IPL 2021: Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer feed off each other, their batting styles are complementary, says Delhi Capitals’ bowling coach James Hopes | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Delhi Capitals, under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, had a big opportunity to clinch their maiden IPL title last year. Their hopes were dashed at the last hurdle, when they suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians in the final in 2020.
Delhi Capitals’ bowling coach, former Australian cricketer James Hopes wants Rishabh Pant’s men to be focussed this time and wants them to take it one game at a time. DC are currently on top of the points table after beating CSK on Monday.
Delhi Capitals, who have already qualified for the play-offs, are dominating the table with 20 points in 13 matches. With one match to go for them in the league stage, they have managed 10 wins and lost on just three occasions in their IPL 2021 campaign so far.

(File image of DC bowling coach James Hopes, left, and chief coach Ricky Ponting – TOI Photo)
Hopes spoke to TimesofIndia.com ahead of the match vs CSK on Monday, which DC eventually won by 3 wickets, with 2 balls remaining.
“We hope we can go all the way, but we are trying to keep the guys really focussed. They need to take it one game at a time. We need to keep building towards the finals,” Hopes said while responding to TimesofIndia.com’s question.
Pant was appointed as captain at the beginning of the 2021 season due to Iyer’s shoulder injury which kept him on the sidelines and the wicket-keeper batsman has managed to lead the team really well. When Iyer returned to the side for phase 2 in the UAE, the DC management asked Pant to continue as skipper for the rest of the season.

(Rishabh Pant – ANI/BCCI/IPL Photo)
On being asked about the difference in captaincy styles of Pant and Iyer, Hopes said: “They both (Iyer and Pant) plan very well. They’re both calm. They don’t overreact or underreact to the situation. And the thing we’ve seen in the games is that they feed off each other really well when they bat together, their styles complement each other exceptionally well.”
“Not much has changed, to be honest, it’s like all systems go, like, a few years ago when we made the move to Shreyas (as captain). It was a long-term plan to get this team into this position and just because Shreyas is not captaining at the moment it doesn’t mean that he is not a very senior player in this team. Rishabh has captained the team beautifully and we expect him to continue to do so,” Hopes, who played 84 ODIs and 12 T20Is for Australia between 2005 and 2010, further told TimesofIndia.com.