Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar has blamed Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting, Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly for the franchise’s dismal show in Indian Premier League (IPL) as they finished ninth on the points table. Gavaskar did a post mortem of DC’s season in the absence of an injured Rishabh Pant. He blamed the stature of the great captains Ponting and Ganguly for the youngsters’ lack of improvement. While David Warner was the only batter who showed application despite criticism around his strike rate, the skipper lacked support from his teammates as DC often suffered collapses which cost them the game.
"So now it's the playoffs, and there are four teams left standing to try and take the coveted IPL trophy home. Will we have a champion that has never won the trophy before, or is the experience of the big finals going to help the teams that have won it earlier? Those who have missed out will be doing post-mortems as to why they couldn't progress and why they faltered. Ideally, such an analysis should be done after a few days have passed after the finals, for then it is more likely to be a reasoned one and not an emotional one," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
"Most importantly, it's got to be an honest one, with no holds barred, for that's the only way hard calls can be taken before the next auction comes up. The two bottom placed teams have plenty of food for thought. They were coached by two of the greatest batters in the history of the game, and yet their teams finished in the bottom half. There could be many reasons for this, but the main one is the aura that these two wonderful players have about them. What this does is keep players, especially domestic newcomers, shy of approaching these masters for any advice. These players have had such superior skills and a magnificent temperament that it's not easy for them to think like those not as gifted as they were in both the technique and temperament departments".
Underutilising uncapped players, and Axar
Gavaskar blamed the DC team management for not giving enough chances to former Under-19 stars Yash Dhull, Priyam Garg and domestic sensation Sarfaraz Khan. Also, he pointed out that Prithvi Shaw needed more backing as he didn’t feature in the playing eleven for nearly a month. He also questioned the reluctance to send Axar Patel up the order and underutilising his form.
"What might have looked like an easy-to-rectify problem during their playing days is not conveyed in the same facile way they solved it themselves. Often, the language is a barrier for a young, budding Indian player who comes from the interiors and may not be conversant in English to understand. That probably explains why players like Yash Dhull, Priyam Garg, and Sarfaraz Khan, to name just three, have made little or no progress. Prithvi Shaw has also not been able to come to terms with the delivery around the ribcage, and the result has been a shortage of runs from some of the most promising and prolific young players in the country," the 73-year-old further expressed his disappointment.
"Then there was the stubborn, almost defiant refusal to promote the in-form Axar Patel up the batting order. It prompted Ravi Shastri, who had coached the Indian team until last year and seen the batting ability that Axar has, to question if there was something in the contract that said Patel wouldn’t bat above number 7 in the batting order".
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