It had reached a point where something had to give. And Gautam Gambhir, captain of Delhi Daredevils on whom the franchise had pinned their hopes of turning things around after a lukewarm first decade in IPL, did. Winner of two IPL trophies with KKR, the second most-experienced captain in the IPL, Gambhir decided to step down from his post two days after Delhi suffered their fifth loss in six games in IPL 2018. Gautam Gambhir was also dropped from the clash against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Delhi Daredevils captain Shreyas Iyer said former skipper Gautam Gambhir decided to sit out the game against Kolkata Knight Riders, a couple of days after he relinquished captaincy of the team.

Iyer, who took over from Gambhir, scored a blistering 93 off just 40 balls against KKR in Delhi to help his side to only its second win this IPL. The win helped Delhi snap its three-game losing streak, but they are still placed a lowly seventh, with four points out of a possible 14.
Delhi hoped to turn things around after changing the skipper and that is exactly what happened. Delhi Daredevils finally arrested their run of defeats with an impressive 55-run victory over Kolkara Knight Riders at the Feroz Shah Stadium. The game, in some ways, signalled the end of the Gautam Gambhir era. The left-hander had not only relinquished captaincy after the last game, but was also dropped in Shreyas Iyer’s first game as captain of Delhi Daredevils. The young leader displayed great skill with the bat and equal shrewdness when on the field to drive his side to a long-awaited and desperately-needed victory
In the press briefing after the game, Delhi’s new skipper said that it was Gambhir himself who decided to step back and let someone else take his place.
“I didn’t make any call to be honest, it wasn’t my decision to drop him. He himself decided to sit out, which was really courageous decision with him being the captain in the previous matches. The respect for him has gone really high. It’s really [good to] see when a captain, if he’s not playing well, he backs out,” Iyer said.

Earlier Gambhir while addressing the media in Delhi on April 25 said, “I take full responsibility for the position we are in. And looking at the position, I have decided to step down as captain. Iyer will take over. I still feel we have the team to turn things around this IPL,”

“Absolutely my decision. I was the one who initiated the meeting (with the team owners). I thought that I haven’t contributed enough and at the same time, the performance of the team… I had to take the responsibility being the leader of the ship. So I feel that it was the right time.”