Ricky Ponting was a disappointed coach after Delhi Capitals’ (DC) 57-run thrashing at the hands of Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 11 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday (April 8).
It was DC’s third successive defeat in the ongoing IPL season. While the David Warner-led side suffered a 50-run defeat at the hands of Lucknow Super Giants in the opening game, they went down by six wickets against Gujarat Titans in the second match.
“We are a long way off right now and I can’t put my finger on why. If I watch these boys train and prepare, their work has been really good but it hasn’t just come across as any results yet on the field. So if I could put my finger on it, I would change it,” Ponting told mediapersons after DC’s loss to RR.
The head coach was honest in his admission that the playing combinations used haven’t worked so far.
“We have to think about players we are putting on ground as what we have put in hasn’t worked, as a coaching group we will talk with our captain and take a call,” Ponting said.
DC opener Prithvi Shaw has come under the scanner for his failures in the IPL 2023 season. The right-hander has registered scores of 12, 7 and 0 in three matches, and questions have been raised over his technique against the top quality fast bowling.
While Mark Wood and Mohammad Shami dismissed Shaw in the first two games, left-arm pacer Trent Boult got rid of him on Sunday.
Commenting on Prithvi Shaw, Ponting said: “I don’t think it’s the pace. I don’t think Trent Boult’s pace worried him. I think the moving ball worried him today. If you guys watched him bat yesterday at nets, he looked a million dollars, his preparation was good.”
“May be it’s something to think that he has got poor record against left handers, which every opposition knows and something that we need to work with him.
“We won’t point finger at one person and that’s not what we do at DC, we are in this all together and we have to find a better way to play as 11 or 12,” he added.
Ponting wants to give his wards a day’s break and then have some straightforward conversations about what exactly is going wrong.
“We need to do some soul searching as a group and may be not tonight as I will let the boys think about it tonight and may be come back tomorrow or day after,” Ponting said.
“But we need to turn around our cricket quickly and three games and no wins, you can’t afford to get bad starts in IPL.”
(With PTI Inputs)
