Ricky Ponting described the Delhi Capitals’ bowling performance after their 106-run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in Visakhapatnam as unacceptable and embarrassing. Rishabh Pant was fined INR 24 lakhs for the Capitals’ second over-rate infraction of the season on a day when the Knight Riders amassed the second-highest IPL total of 272/7. Head coach Ponting then attempted to promptly address the team’s deficiencies.
It’s difficult to evaluate at the moment. “I mean, our first half of the game today almost embarrassed me,” Ponting remarked during the news conference following the game. “We were two overs behind again, which means the guys bowling the final two overs will only get to bowl with four fielders outside the circle because we bowled 17 wides and took two hours to bowl our overs.”
“A lot of unacceptable things happened in this game, and we will discuss as a group a lot of things that we need to address right away in order to go on in the tournament. There will undoubtedly be some worthwhile open debates in the locker room.”
The fact that captain Pant missed a few opportunities to take the review did not help the Capitals. Ishant Sharma, who was convinced that Narine (batting on 24 at the moment) had edged the ball, did it first in the fourth over, off the fourth delivery. However, Pant was much too late to give the umpire a signal because the time had already elapsed. After scoring 26 in that over, Narine struck a career-high 85 off 39 balls, laying the groundwork for the Knight Riders’ enormous total. Rasikh Salam thought he had dismissed Shreyas Iyer caught-behind in the fifteenth over as he was batting on three, but Pant again chose not to request a review.
“I haven’t got an opportunity to discuss those with Rishabh. It’s evident that Rishabh hasn’t heard them because on both occasions, other fielders and bowlers did hear something. However, remember that these are really minor matters in the end. More critical of the over-rate, Ponting added, “There are other bigger concerns for us with the way we bowled, some of the field placings we had set and just how long it’s taking us to get around.”
“No other team is doing that, and we can’t afford to do it. Going into the final few overs of a bowling innings, we are more than ten minutes behind when we are two overs behind in two straight games. They would have received 250 anyhow, so it probably didn’t cost us anything today, but if we can’t repair it, it will undoubtedly cost us in the future rounds of the competition.”
The powerplay saw up to 88 runs scored, setting the stage for the Knight Riders. Ponting stated that the only thing left to do for the Capitals was try to limit the damage for the rest of the innings, something they were unable to achieve after their kind of start.
It was a bad start. even considering the game’s opening ball. They had a great start to the powerplay, perhaps reaching 90 at the end of the first six overs. Thus, that stage is not the best. You are always attempting to fight your way back into the game if that occurs at the beginning of it. We were not permitted to do it today. The manner they continued to pursue us after that initial encounter was unrelenting.
“I thought that Ankritish Raghuvanshi, the young player at No. 3, played really well, which allowed Andre Russell and the other guys to play the way they always play.” They could keep pushing because they had wickets in hand. They performed a great deal of stuff, but we have to be really critical of our own work and consider how we can improve for the next game, said Ponting.