Delhi Capitals Announce Shreyas Iyer’s Replacement & A Short-Term COVID-19 Substitute For Axar Patel

The Delhi Capitals (DC) have named Karnataka batsman Aniruddha Joshi as the injured Shreyas Iyer’s replacement for the season.

The 33-year-old has been part of Rajasthan Royals and home team Royal Challengers Bangalore but is yet to make his IPL debut. Aniruddha Joshi is a middle-order batsman and has played in 22 T20s thus far in his career, scoring 420 runs at 32.30, and has even accounted for six wickets with the ball.

Iyer dislocated his shoulder during the ODI series against England last month and underwent surgery for the same recently.

In another development, Delhi Capitals sign a ‘short-term COVID-19 replacement’ as it has been confirmed that Mumbai’s Shams Mulani will be replacing Axar Patel until the latter recovers and re-joins the squad.

Axar Patel, ahead of the tournament tested positive for Covid-19 and was taken to BCCI’s medical facility for isolation and treatment. Mulani, a left-handed batsman and a slow left-arm orthodox bowler from Mumbai, comes in as a replacement under VIVO IPL’s Player Regulations.

Under the Regulation 6.1 (c), franchises are allowed to sign a short-term replacement player until the original squad member is permitted to re-enter the team’s bio-secure environment. Hence, Mulani will only be a part of the Delhi Capitals side until Axar recovers and is allowed to join the team.

Mulani is an all-rounder who has 91 runs and 24 wickets in 25 T20s. Although he hasn’t done much with the bat, Mulani averages 42.76 in first-class cricket, which shows that he can bat when required.

Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals are currently without the services of their key player Anrich Nortje. As per ANI, the right-arm pacer has tested positive for COVID-19. He landed in India after the second ODI against Pakistan last week. Other SA players have cleared the tests and joined their respective franchises.