Delhi Capitals' head coach, Ricky Ponting, recently spoke about Prithvi Shaw's absence from the team, revealing that the opener was not able to perform as the team expected him to. Shaw has been sitting on the bench since April 20, after a series of poor performances at the top of the order. He has only managed to score 47 runs in six matches in the IPL 2023 season so far.
DC losing faith in Shaw
Ponting's comments came after Delhi Capitals' defeat to Chennai Super Kings, where the team struggled to get going in their batting innings. The head coach mentioned that Shaw's place in the team was being taken by Shikhar Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis, who have been performing well at the top of the order.
"Prithvi... the fact that he is not playing is an indication that he did not perform as we wanted him to. No one has really grabbed the opportunity with both hands yet.," Ponting said in the post-match press conference.
Struggles rotate strike
According to Ricky Ponting, head coach of the Delhi Capitals, the team lost by 27 runs in their match against the Chennai Super Kings as they failed to keep up the momentum in the middle overs. He said that too many dot balls were a significant factor in their defeat, and the team lacked urgency against the spin bowlers of CSK.
Despite chasing a target of 168, the Delhi Capitals were unable to reach the target, and Ponting believes that the lack of intent and slow scoring in the middle overs were the main reasons behind their loss. He emphasized the importance of keeping the scoreboard ticking and not letting the run rate climb too high.
"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 is that many dot balls through the middle phase," Ponting said.
The Delhi Capitals had a challenging time against the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali, who took three wickets between them, with Jadeja being the pick of the bowlers. Ponting suggested that the team needed to be more proactive against the spinners and rotate the strike to avoid dot balls.
Batsmen let bowlers down
Ponting also heaped praise on DC bowlers for restricting CSK under 170.
"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," Ponting said.
