IPL 2021: “We Have Pretty Solid Core Group Of Players Together” – Ricky Ponting Lauds Delhi Capitals Performance

Delhi Capitals’ Head coach Ricky Ponting is all praise for his team’s performance in the Indian Premier League 2021 season. They finished the league stages as table-toppers with 20 points in 14 matches.

Delhi Capitals will face the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday in Qualifier 1 in Dubai. Ahead of the match, Ricky Ponting spoke about his team’s success in the league so far in a video uploaded by the Delhi Capitals. Ricky praised the Proteas pacer Anrich Nortje and Shreyas Iyer, who missed the first half due to injury. The head coach said:

“I think we have been a bit lucky throughout the season as we haven’t had to make too many changes. We have a pretty solid core group of players together. Shreyas coming back in was a huge boost to the team and Nortje for the back half of the season when Woakes hasn’t been around. He has been a standout player for us.”

“So, we haven’t had to make too many changes. The sign of a team is not about one or two great players. It’s about 11 players on the field and they all chip in to do what they need to when the team needs them to do the most and we’ve been out of finding the number of guys you see to do that,” he added.

Ricky Ponting also heaped praise on the openers – Shikhar Dhawan-Prithvi Shaw, and Shimron Hetmyer, who has contributed valuable runs lower down the order. He added that team has performed collectively in the tournament, which is a good sign.

"We have played good cricket. The challenge now for us over the next week is to play great cricket."@RickyPonting reflects on last night's loss, positives from the game and league stage's analysis after #RCBvDC 😍#YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2021 #DCSpecials @OctaFX @sofiteldxbpalm pic.twitter.com/JhuQyoCXyd

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) October 9, 2021

The loss against RCB gives us a chance to reset and ensure we are ready for Qualifier: Ricky Ponting

The Delhi Capitals lost their final league match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a last-ball thriller. They failed to defend 165 runs, as KS Bharat hit a six off the last delivery to take his team home.

However, head coach Ricky Ponting is not sweating over the loss. He rather feels that loss is not the worst thing at this point in the tournament. Ricky expressed that he is confident that his team is ready for the qualifier match. He said:

“Very happy. I think if someone had offered any of us at the start of the tournament, we would have grabbed it with both hands. I’ve been pretty happy about it. We have played some really good cricket right through the first 14 games. If we look back at all the games that we played, the four games we have lost, you could probably say that we could have won all four of those as well.

‘I am delighted. In fact, I told the boys that a loss at this time in the tournament is not the worst thing that can happen either. It gives us a chance to reset and ensure we are ready to go for the qualifier against Chennai. So far so good,” Ricky Ponting concluded.