Delhi Capitals (DC) coach Ricky Ponting was left frustrated as the franchise hit the rock-bottom of IPL 2024 points table on Sunday with their fourth defeat in five matches. This time, the loss was to Mumbai Indians, on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
DC's bowlers let them down one again, as after conceding 272 runs against KKR in the previous match, MI bludgeoned them for 234/5. Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Tim David all made scores in the 40s, while Romario Shepherd made 39* in 10 balls.
Chasing the mammoth total, only Prithvi Shaw (66) and Tristan Stubbs (71*) could withstand the pressure, as DC finished on 205/8 in 20 overs and lost the game by 29 runs.
After the game, DC coach Ricky Ponting spoke about the loss to MI and presented the reality in front of the players. He said that now DC has to win 8 out of its 9 remaining games to make it into the playoffs. He also asked the players to keep their confidence levels high.
"Now it comes down to a nine-game tournament (for us). We have got to win eight of our next nine games -- as simple as that. We will do everything we can. Likewise, we have got to stick together, keep our chins up. There's a lot of good stuff that happened tonight (Sunday). I know we lost by 29 runs, but we got nearly 210 or something batting second.
The par score here, as I said this morning, is 175. So this is good stuff. We have just got to tighten up, be better at training on the 10th and make sure we are up for the next challenge on the 12th. The game's done, the result is there. All we talk about now is getting better for our next one," said Ponting in a video shared by Delhi Capitals.
Delhi next travel to Lucknow Super Giants for their away game on April 12.
