The auction on December 19 will see Delhi Capitals focussed especially on "overseas fast bowlers" to fill a major gap in their squad ahead of the next year's edition of the IPL, said head coach Ricky Ponting.
Under the new regime led by Ponting, as well as skipper Shreyas Iyer, Delhi reached the play-offs last season after a long while. The Aussie legend discussed the team’s strategy and targets for the upcoming season as he met with the rest of the management staff.
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"We’ve had several discussions over the last few months, and have put in a lot of time and effort to make sure that we’re well prepared," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
"You can do all the planning in the world, but at the auction table, the unpredictable always happens."
Ponting even gave away some of the names the Delhi franchise would be bidding for. "Pat Cummins could go for big money, as could Chris Woakes," he said. "All-rounders are always interesting in my opinion. Players like Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme could all be big picks."
"Going into the auction you have to be very specific about the kind of players you need. For instance, we’ve got three openers, so we don’t need to look for one. You need to identify the problem areas in your starting eleven, and essentially plug the gaps."
Delhi Capitals finished third in the table before defeating the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator in IPL 2019 but lost to Chennai Super Kings in the second qualifier thereafter.
"The semi-final loss against Chennai was disappointing of course," Ponting said. "But we played some great cricket, and even now, about 7-8 months after the tournament, I feel like there were times when we were the best team in the competition."
"I just remember how much fun everybody had. It was a totally different environment than most other IPLs that I have been a part of. The idea is to recreate that atmosphere and culture with our new and existing bunch of players."
In the trading window, Delhi brought in India veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane. "They are the kind of players who are likely to do well on the Kotla wicket, and of course, bring tremendous experience with them," explained Ponting, with his team left with a purse of Rs 27.85 crore to fill 11 available slots, including five overseas players.
(Inputs from PTI)
