Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting opened up on the upcoming 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season and said that previous year’s finalists the Gujarat Titans (GT) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) repeat their dominant performances. The former Australian captain has a huge role to play behind the scenes for the Capitals, especially in the absence of their regular captain Rishabh Pant.

Pant is still recovering from injuries sustained in a car crash back in December 2022 and he has been ruled out for the entire season of the IPL. And, veteran Australian batter David Warner has been named captain in his absence. Stating that GT and RR have a very good chance to reach the final this year, Ponting said in the ICC Review:

“It’s a tough question…as very rarely does a team dominate the IPL from the start to the finish. Obviously Gujarat (Titans) last year were amazing, a brand new team and were able to win the tournament. The other finalist last year, Rajasthan Royals, I think have got a really, really good squad. And we said that last year, immediately after the auction, we were pretty impressed with what they were able to do and put a good squad together.”

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“They’ve only built on that again this year. I think Rajasthan will be there, thereabouts. It’s a hard game to judge and a hard game to understand who’s going to win. Who stands up in the moment will generally win more often than not. But if I’m looking at the squads, Rajasthan has got a good squad as anybody,” Ricky Ponting again shared.

However, the Sanju Samson-led side had a great campaign in 2022 but fell short in the final against Gujarat Titans. They finished second in the points table, with Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal winning the Orange and the Purple Cap, respectively as well. Meanwhile, the IPL 2023 will also see the new ‘Impact Player’ rule as well.

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“Let’s wait and see. It’s a nice innovation and it’s definitely going to give a lot more work to the coaches once the game starts. I mean, normally as a coach, once the game is started, there’s not much you can do to influence the outcome of the game. But with this. I think there are some significant ways that you can tactically influence the game,” Ricky Ponting concluded.