The Delhi Capitals finished 9th in the 10-team points table in IPL 2023. While Rishabh Pant’s absence was a big miss for the Capitals, it is still not an excuse for their abysmal performance this season.
Selection and tactical errors on and off the field from head coach Ricky Ponting, the management, decision-makers at the auction table, and also captain David Warner led to DC’s torrid exit in the IPL 2023.
Delhi Capitals started the season with 5 losses on a trot. They finished with only 5 wins and 9 losses.
Legendary Indian batsman and now commentator Sunil Gavaskar put it down to the “aura” of Ricky Ponting that has done Delhi Capitals more harm than good.
Sunil Gavaskar reckons youngsters in DC like Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull and Priyam Garg could have been too “shy of approaching” Ricky Ponting for tips and advice.
Writing in his coloum for Sportstar, Sunil Gavaskar wrote: “Those who have missed out [from playoffs] will be doing post-mortems as to why they couldn’t progress and why they faltered. Ideally, such an analysis should be done after a few days have passed after the finals, for then it is more likely to be a reasoned one and not an emotional one.”
“Most importantly, it’s got to be an honest one, with no holds barred, for that’s the only way hard calls can be taken before the next auction comes up. The two bottom placed teams have plenty of food for thought. They were coached by two of the greatest batters in the history of the game, and yet their teams finished in the bottom half. There could be many reasons for this, but the main one is the aura that these two wonderful players have about them. What this does is keep players, especially domestic newcomers, shy of approaching these masters for any advice. These players have had such superior skills and a magnificent temperament that it’s not easy for them to think like those not as gifted as they were in both the technique and temperament departments”.
“What might have looked like an easy-to-rectify problem during their playing days is not conveyed in the same facile way they solved it themselves. Often, the language is a barrier for a young, budding Indian player who comes from the interiors and may not be conversant in English to understand. That probably explains why players like Yash Dhull, Priyam Garg, and Sarfaraz Khan, to name just three, have made little or no progress. Prithvi Shaw has also not been able to come to terms with the delivery around the ribcage, and the result has been a shortage of runs from some of the most promising and prolific young players in the country,” Sunil Gavaskar opined.
Sunil Gavaskar slammed Ricky Ponting’s “stubborn” credo of not promoting Axar Patel in the batting line-up.
“Then there was the stubborn, almost defiant refusal to promote the in-form Axar Patel up the batting order. It prompted Ravi Shastri, who had coached the Indian team until last year and seen the batting ability that Axar has, to question if there was something in the contract that said Patel wouldn’t bat above number 7 in the batting order,” Gavaskar added.
