IPL 2023: Poor execution, sloppy fielding cost us the match, laments Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting pointed out sloppy fielding and poor execution in bowling as reasons behind DC’s loss against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Saturday night. Following dropping Lucknow’s Kyle Mayers early on, the Windies batter punished them as he smashed a fifty on his IPL debut and propelled LSG to put up a massive total of 193 in the first innings.

Delhi’s chase began poorly as they lost three wickets early, all to Mark Wood, and then after a steady partnership between captain David Warner and Rilee Rossouw, wickets further went tumbling down. As a result, DC fell short of the target by 50 runs.

Speaking to the media after the match, Ponting didn’t mince his words and slammed his side’s poor outing across all departments in their IPL 2023 opener.

“To be totally honest, I think they (LSG) got more runs than they probably should have. I don’t think we helped ourselves in the field. After the first four overs, our fielding was really sloppy; a couple of chances went down, and a few misfields. One of the chances that went down, Mayers ended up going on a bit of run after that, which put us behind the game a little bit,” Ponting said in the post-match press conference.

Ponting said that given so much dew in the evening, DC should have made the most of this chance, but because they had leaked so many runs in the beginning, they were always playing the chasing game and faltered eventually.

“We conceded 16 sixes in our bowling innings, and that goes to show, we were off with our execution. When you give away that many, it’s hard to drag yourself back into the game. I didn’t think it was a 190-plus wicket. There was a lot of dew there, if anything, the wicket was probably better for us batting second, so there are a few reasons why we lost the game,” Punter added.

Ponting heaps praise on Mark Wood

Mark Wood was impressive in his first game as a Lucknow player, picking up his maiden IPL five-for (5/14). 

Looking impressed with how he bowled, Ponting said he expected nothing less from Wood, and with the way he traumatised DC batters with the sheer pace early on, he deserves all the credit.

“He was outstanding. He bowled the way we thought he would bowl. We knew he’d bowl fast and attack the stumps, and he used his bouncer really well. He is a world-class fast bowler. If he stays fit, you will see him bowling fast spells,” Ponting said.

Delhi’s next match will be against Gujarat Titans on April 4th in Kotla.