After a crushing defeat against Gujarat Titans on Saturday, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting said that his side need to improve on their batting performance during the powerplay. Shubman Gill’s 84-run knock and Lockie Ferguson’s four-wicket haul guide Gujarat Titans to a 14-run win against Delhi Capitals here at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday.
“On this wicket, on this ground, we thought it was a very, very chaseable total. Unfortunately for us, for the second game in succession, we were behind the eight-ball early. There were a few too many quite soft dismissals from our batsmen tonight,’ said Ponting in a post-match press conference.
“If you are losing three wickets in the powerplay, it’s really hard to win games from there. We know that, the stats say that, they have said that right through the history of T20 cricket. That’s certainly one area that we got to get better at, getting through that powerplay. None or one down would be a nice start to a run chase,” he added.
Regarding the availability of Anrich Nortje and David Warner, Ponting said that they might play in the next clash against Lucknow Super Giants on April 7. “Nortje bowled 100 per cent this morning in the warm-ups. “I think he has to get through another maybe four or five-over spell at 100 per cent capacity and then I think if he gets clearance from Cricket South Africa, he should be right to go. We have got a few more days before our next game (against Lucknow Super Giants on April 7), so hopefully, he is available for selection for that one,” said Ponting.
“I think David Warner has arrived in Mumbai. He left early yesterday morning I believe, so he should be there when we get back to Mumbai tonight. Mitchell Marsh has been in Mumbai for a few days, obviously getting his quarantine done. I think he might be out of quarantine tomorrow actually,” he added.
Despite the early wickets, the Capitals were in a comfortable position at the end of 14 overs. They needed 54 runs in the last six overs with Rishabh Pant and Rovman Powell in the middle. The head coach called that loss ‘disappointing’.
“There probably was a little bit of panic. At no stage tonight did the run rate go out of hand and that’s what probably makes it a more disappointing loss than it probably looks on the scoreboard. We went down by 15 (14) runs but the (required) run rate never got above 9.5,” said the head coach.
“We had Rishabh in the middle of a really good innings. Rovman Powell had just gone out. If those two had been out to bat together for two-three more overs, I think we would have won the game. But we were not good enough to do it,” he added.
