Gautam Gambhir, who was picked for INR 2.8 Crore by Delhi Daredevils at the IPL 2018 auction, has decided to play for free for the franchise for the rest of season. Earlier, Gambhir stepped down as Daredevils’ captain after team’s string of poor performances. Gambhir took the responsibility of DD’s failure thus far and now will forego his salary, reports PTI. List of Skippers who Resigned in Between a Cricket Tournament

Daredevils have managed to win just one match out of six games and are bottom-placed on IPL 2018 points table. As a batsman, Gambhir has been poor as well scoring meager 85 runs, although he opened the campaign with a half-century. "Gautam has decided that he won't take any salary from the franchise for the season. He will play remaining part of IPL for the Delhi Daredevils for free," PTI quoted a source as saying.

"Gautam is someone who puts pride above everything else. He has been a proud performer. He doesn't want to take any money and it's a very personal call. In fact, he wanted to quit just after the KXIP game," the source added.

Meanwhile, Gambhir took to Twitter and clarified that the decision to quit captaincy was his personal and doesn’t involve team management. "True, that I’ve stepped down from DD captaincy. Just to clarify it was my call, nothing from the management or coaching staff. I may not be leading from the front but I will be the last man standing for @DelhiDaredevils. No individual bigger than d team. Very much a #DilDIlli,” wrote the Delhi batsman in Twitter.

Daredevils have replaced Gambhir with right-handed batsman Shreyas Iyer as the captain of the side. It will be interesting to see whether Gambhir is picked by the franchise for the upcoming games. Gambhir’s poor form has also put a question mark on his IPL future. He, however, during the interaction with press said that it's too early for him to decide on the retirement.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 25, 2018 11:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).