Delhi Capitals (DC) are going through a disastrous season in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 without their captain Rishabh Pant. The David Warner-led side have only played one nail-biter so far whereas the other four games have been one-sided, courtesy their out-of-form batting lineup which hasn’t just clicked. After the loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), DC head coach Ricky Ponting tried to motivate the players by highlighting the phases in which did well in the game. Ponting also had an advice for Kuldeep Yadav.
"Good, really good bowling performance. They challenged us early; they got off to a flier. Our attitude and commitment came back, we dragged it back. Kuldeep, where are you mate? Disappointed last game, weren't you? You actually said sorry to me at the end of the game. So mate, don't you ever say sorry to me or anyone for what happens on the cricket field. What I want you to do is bounce back strong and today with 2/23 off four, it was an outstanding spell of bowling. Well done," Ponting said in a video of dressing room shared by the franchise on their Twitter account.
Ponting also lauded all-rounder Lalit Yadav for delivering with the ball. The off-spinner conceded 29 runs from his quota of four overs which helped DC restrict RCB for 174/6.
"Lalit, I thought you did a good job with the ball as well buddy. Two sixes in that one over otherwise the reason we bought you in today was to bowl those hard overs in the Powerplay, just outside it, and you did a great job as well. Axar you were also great. 1/25 off three and our golden boy Mitchell Marsh, who picks up 2/18 of his couple overs as well. So well done," the former Australian captain added.
DC's Director of Cricket and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly also tried to motivate the players with some pep talk.
"We need to put this behind us. Back the captain, back each other together and we'll come back fresh next game. We can't get worse than this we can only get better, still nine games to go and we can win 9 out of 9," Ganguly said.
"It doesn't matter if we qualify or don't qualify, it doesn't matter so much for us at this stage. But let's look our inside, play for ourselves, play for our pride, and see if we can get there," he added as DC will need to consider every game as a do or die fixture.
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