Ricky Ponting, the head coach of Delhi Capitals (DC), expressed his disappointment with the team’s subpar fielding during their defeat against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by a massive 50-run margin on April 1. Additionally, Ponting believed that the DC bowlers allowed LSG to score too many runs, as they put up a total of 193/6.
The Super Giants’ persistent bowling attack proved too much for the Capitals, as they were limited to a score of 143-9 within the allotted 20 overs.
The turning point of the match occurred when Khaleel Ahmed failed to catch Kyle Mayers on 14 runs, after which the West Indian batsman proceeded to hit an impressive 73 runs off just 38 balls, including four sixes.
Ricky Ponting on poor fielding
After the match, Ponting spoke to journalists and expressed his belief that Mayers’ powerful batting performance put the Capitals at a disadvantage and that he took advantage of the opportunity he was given when Ahmed failed to catch him.
“To be totally honest, I think they got more runs than they probably should have. I don’t think we helped ourselves in the field today. Our fielding after the first four overs was really sloppy. A couple of chances went down, a few misfields. One of those chances that went down was Mayers’, who ended up going on a bit of a run after that, which put us behind the game a little bit,” he said.
Although Mayers scored the highest with 73 runs, Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni also contributed significantly by hitting a combined total of five sixes for LSG, allowing them to achieve a substantial score. Even though Krishnappa Gowtham had only one opportunity to bat, he made the most of it and hit a six off the final ball.
Ponting asserted that the pitch was not conducive to a score of 190 runs. Although he acknowledged that the dew factor made batting easier during the second innings, he felt that a target of 194 was too difficult to chase down.
“I think we conceded 16 sixes in our bowling innings. That goes to show that we were a fair bit off with our execution with our bowling. Looking at the wicket today, I didn’t think it was a 190-plus wicket. So, whenever you’re giving up that many, it’s going to be hard to drag yourself back into the game. If anything, on that wicket, it was probably better for us batting second,” he said.
