After three seasons of an upward curve, Delhi Capitals (DC) is back in the bottom two of the IPL points table. Had it not been for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s equally dismal year, DC could have finished last again, instead of a 9th-place finish. Despite the guidance of coach Ricky Ponting and director Sourav Ganguly, DC as a team failed to crack the code. The absence of Rishabh Pant, a muddled battling line-up, and the knack of losing the match from a winning position hurt DC dearly.
For starts, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar feels one of the reasons why DC was not up to the mark has to do with their coach Ponting. Taking nothing away from what the former Australia skipper has achieved as an international captain, Gavaskar reckons Ponting’s coaching inadvertently did DC more harm than good.
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In his column for Sportstar, Sunil Gavaskar wrote: “Those who have missed out will be doing post-mortems as to why they couldn’t progress and why they faltered. 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.”
He further added, “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.”
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Sunil Gavaskar observed that under Ponting, the players have shown negligible improvement. The likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, and Priyam Garg hardly got consistent opportunities while the curious case of Prithvi Shaw is yet to be examined entirely. Besides, by the time captain David Warner found his rhythm, DC was already playing catch-up.
Elaborating the same, Sunil Gavaskar wrote: “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.”
He further explained, “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”.
