Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting gave a rousing dressing room speech after his team’s win against Royal Challengers Bangalore, saying that this is how they are going to play from now on. DC beat RCB by seven wickets to register their fourth win of IPL 2023.
The former Australia captain spoke to the DC player after their win, saying that was a bit more like the cricket they want to play in the IPL. DC restricted RCB to 181 for 4 in the first innings and chased down the target with seven wickets and 20 balls in hand.
That’s a bit more like the style of cricket that we talk about playing, that we’re renowned for playing here at the Delhi Capitals. I mean the batting, we’ll get to it later on. Even with the ball today, bang on the toss. We knew it was going to be a pretty good track,” said Ponting.
He went on to say that the standards in the field and with the ball are improving, adding that they kept themselves in the game with their powerplay bowling. Mitchell Marsh was the pick of the DC bowlers, claiming two wickets and giving away 21 runs in three overs, while Axar Patel gave away just 17 runs in the three overs that he bowled.
We knew that Faf and Virat are going to come hard at us. Even though they got through the powerplay and they were 51 at the end of the powerplay. To me, we kept ourselves right in the game there. In the field and with the ball, the standards are generally improving. Axar did an awesome job in the powerplay,” Ponting added.
Ponting heaped special praise on opening batter Phil Salt, saying the way he batted is exactly the way they’re going to play every game from now on. Salt scored 87 runs off 45 balls, hitting eight boundaries and six maximums to help DC chase down the target with ease.
Salt and Warner the intent you guys showed early on was exactly the way we’re going to play every ball in every game from now on. What you’ve brought to the team, batting-wise, attitude-wise and executive-wise has been outstanding. Don’t ever get away from the way you’re playing cricket,” said Ponting.
Following their win over RCB, DC will turn their focus towards Chennai Super Kings, with the two sides set to clash at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on May 10.
