Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting spoke about the omission of Prithvi Shaw from the playing 11 following his string of poor performances in this edition of the Indian Premier League. The young Indian opener has played only six games for his side but could not make an impact with the bat in IPL 2023.
The DC team has backed the talented opener despite having continuous support from the team management the youngster could not perform for the side, as the team brought in Phil Salt as an opener alongside their skipper David Warner. In the last couple of seasons, Shaw could replicate his good performance as before as he lost all his form and confidence in the cash-rich league.
Speaking to the media after their loss against Chennai Super Kings, Ricky Ponting opened up about the exclusion of the Indian opener, stating that he has not performed as the team wanted him to do in this IPL 2023 and reckons that no one has grabbed their opportunity in the team.
“Prithvi… the fact that he is not playing is an indication that he did not perform as we wanted him to. No one has grabbed the opportunity with both hands yet,” Ricky Ponting said.
Speaking about their loss against the four-time champions, Ponting ruined their batting failure as their team could not play well in the powerplay and was also not happy with the batters’ intent in the middle overs against CSK spinners
“We lost two early, then we lost three early and then the spinners came on…we didn’t show any urgency against the spinners. There were about 34 dot balls in the middle of the game…you are never going to win chasing a score if there are that many dot balls through the middle phase,”
The loss against the Chennai Super Kings proved costly for the David Warner-led side, which almost ruled them out of the playoff contention in IPL 2023.
I Thought The Bowlers Overall Did A Really Good Job – Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting praised their bowlers for doing well against the mighty CSK batters as they kept picking in the regular intervals before MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja played a vital cameo at the end of the innings to help them post a competitive total at the end of 20 overs.
“I thought the bowlers overall did a really good job. The spinners — Axar (Patel) and Kuldeep Yadav — were good again. Khaleel (Ahmed) before his last over, which went for 20, he bowled 3 overs for 12,” Ricky Ponting said.
Delhi Capitals come back to form winning the last four games out of their last five games before losing out to the MS Dhoni-led side and will take on Punjab Kings in their next encounter on home ground on May 13.