Delhi Capitals (DC) might have had a dream run till the midway stage of IPL 2020, but coach Ricky Ponting wants his wards to play better cricket in the tougher second half as the tracks in UAE will get slower.
WATCH - Ricky Ponting enthusiastically celebrates DC's clinical win over RR
According to Ponting, any score in the region of 160 could prove to be a good total in the second half of the tournament on slow pitches.
Led by Shreyas Iyer, DC have won 6 of their 8 matches and another two wins from the next six games will put them into the play-offs.
“One thing I have been telling the boys right from the start of this tournament is that I want us playing our best cricket in the back half of the tournament, not necessarily in the front half of the tournament,” Ponting said on the eve of Delhi Capitals’ match against Chennai Super Kings in Sharjah.
The former Australian skipper’s prediction of pitches getting slower as the tournament progresses turned out to be right.
“The pitches have noticeably started to slow down a little bit — I think even the RR game with them not managing to chase 160 on these grounds (proved that).
“I think what we all felt when we came here was that maybe for the first half of the tournament, chasing might have been easier because of the bit of dew and also because of the little bit of more grass on the wickets…
“…Because we thought they are going to preserve the wickets a little bit for the back half of the tournament, but chasing has been hard right from the start,” he said.
Ponting admitted that batting first was relatively easier during the first month of the event.
“I think all the games we’ve won, we’ve actually won batting first. So I think that will continually get a bit tougher to bat on,” he remarked.
The Australian legend also opened up on Delhi’s chances of making it to the play-offs.
“Yes, things are looking good at this stage of the season, but I am never the one to try and look too far ahead because I know how quickly the IPL can turn around.
“We have seen teams in the past have six wins from their first six games, and then not go on to make the playoffs. So we’ll keep a lid on things, and I still think we’re six wins from eight games, but probably haven’t played our best cricket yet either,” he expressed.
Sharing the mantra of winning close matches, Ponting said it is important to take the game deep and be in the contest as long as possible.
“One thing I have been telling the boys is – if you can just keep yourselves in the game, and keep fighting then we might be able to pull some wins out of games which we probably shouldn’t win – against RR was one such game.
“I just love seeing the boys fight like that for every win because as we know, in the IPL, (it) is not easy to win games, so to pinch a game like that was a great result for the boys,” he stated.
Commenting on the challenge that CSK could throw at his side, Ponting said they won’t be taking MS Dhoni and company lightly.
“We have played every team once and Rajasthan twice now, and Chennai also the second time now. Look, you can’t take anyone for granted in this tournament.
“They’ve been proven performers – they have probably been the best team in the IPL since day 1, so when you’ve got guys like Watson, Dhoni, Jadeja and Faf in the side, you can’t take them lightly,” DC head coach concluded.
(With PTI inputs)
