Indian Premier League 2024

'Revenge loading against Hyderabad' - Fans react as Delhi announces David Warner as new captain for Indian T20 League 2023

Delhi announced David Warner as their new captain in the Indian T20 League 2023 in the absence of Rishabh Pant.

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David Warner & Rishabh Pant

David Warner & Rishabh Pant (Image credit: Twitter)

David Warner & Rishabh Pant David Warner & Rishabh Pant (Image credit: Twitter)

Excitement for the upcoming Indian T20 League is building as teams gears up for the mega event with unveiling their new jerseys, announcing new leaders and players toiling hard at the nets. Ahead of the 16th edition of the ITL, the Delhi franchise has revealed the names of its new leadership roles.

The JSW-GMR co-owned franchise on Thursday announced Australian batter David Warner as their new captain in Rishabh Pant's absence. With India's star all-rounder Axar Patel announced as vice-captain and the former Indian Cricket Board president as their Director of Cricket, Delhi have signaled that they are ready for the battle in ITL 2023.

Can Warner lead Delhi to a maiden ITL title?

Delhi failed to qualify for the playoffs last year and have already suffered a setback ahead of the new season as they will miss the services of wicketkeeper-batter Pant throughout the campaign. The left-handed batter met with an unfortunate road accident in December last year and has been sidelined for an indefinite period. Although the 25-year-old's absence is a big blow for Delhi, the franchise will be hoping that Warner, who won the title for Hyderabad in 2016, will lead them to lift their maiden ITL trophy.

After being appointed as Delhi's new skipper, David Warner said: "Rishabh Pant has been a terrific leader for Delhi Capitals and we are all are going to miss him".

The southpaw, who joined Delhi in mega auctions last year, is the joint-fifth most successful captain in IPL history in terms of matches won. Warner has led in 69 matches so far and won 35 of them. The 36-year-old has not had the best outings in the last two years, but before that he was a nightmare for the opposition bowlers with his batting heroics. The opening batter was in beast mode in 2016 when Hyderabad were champions. He scored over 800 runs and became the second-highest run-scorer that season, just behind Bangalore's Virat Kohli, who topped the charts with a whopping 971 runs.

The ITL 2023 will begin on March 31 when defending champions Gujarat take on four-time champions Chennai at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, Delhi will start their campaign against KL Rahul-led Lucknow on Saturday (April 1).

Here's how Twitter reacted to Delhi's appointment of Warner as their new captain:

Sourav Ganguly David Warner Indian Premier League Axar Patel