Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting on Wednesday was disappointed by his team’s ‘unacceptable’ performance. Delhi Capitals lost by a whopping 106 runs to Kolkata Knight Riders, leaving them at the 9th place in the IPL 2024 table. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Ponting praised ‘relentless’ KKR but was also critical about his own team’s performance, calling it ‘unacceptable’.
KKR on Wednesday won the toss and elected to bat. Sunil Narine provided the Knights with a blazing start, scoring 85 of 39 balls. Angkrish Raghuvanshi, making his debut, played a crucial knock of 54 runs as a late onslaught Andre Russell and Rinku Singh ensured KKR finished with a huge score of 272. In reply, DC folded pretty easily at 166 runs, with only Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs scoring half centuries.
Unacceptable: Ponting on DC’s performance
Talking about the game, Ponting said there are a lot of areas that need improvement before their next game.
“It’s hard to assess right now. We were almost embarrassed on the first half of the game. We conceded a lot of runs, bowled 17 wides, it took us two hours bowl 20 overs, meaning the guys bowling the last two over got to bowl with only two fielders outside the circle. There are a lot of things that happened in this game that are unacceptable and a lot of things that we’ll have an open chat about in the dressing room,” he said.
‘KKR’s start took the game away from us’
Ponting pointed out to the phases where the game went away from their hands.
“That start didn’t help. They got off to a flying start at the powerplay. They were maybe 90 at the end of 6 overs. So that phase is not ideal. If that happens at the start of the game, then you’re always fighting to get back into the game. KKR were relentless right from the start. The youngster that came to bat at number 3 (Angkrish Raghuvanshi) I thought he played really well. It allowed Russell and those guys to come in and play like they always play.
“They had wickets in hand so they could keep going hard. However, we’ve got to very critical on ourselves and our own performance and we’ve got to look at ways to get better next time,” he said.
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Pant’s fitness a concern?
Ponting also said he didn’t think DC captain Rishabh Pant has a fitness concern, although he admitted that he did not get a chance to talk to him after the game.
“I saw he called the physio out. I haven’t spoken to him post-game. However, he was moving pretty well when he batted. I didn’t see him hobbling at all after he called the physio. Maybe it was like a cramp or something like that. I’m really happy with what he did with the bat,” Ponting said.
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