'There Is Something About This Guy': Ricky Ponting Reveals How He Helped Ashok Dinda Get Into KKR In IPL 2008
Published - 19 Apr 2022, 09:00 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:07 AM
Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting opened up on helping Ashok Dinda to get in the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team in the IPL 2008. Ponting played for KKR under Sourav Ganguly in the inaugural season of the IPL.
Dinda didn’t have any experience of playing white-ball cricket as he had played a few First-Class matches for state team Bengal. Dinda was roped in by KKR as a net bowler but his pace was something that allured the former Australian skipper, who managed to get him in KKR’s playing XI for the first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Ashok Dinda was a net bowler for us at Kolkata: Ricky Ponting
As KKR set RCB a gigantic score of 223 to chase in the first match of IPL 2008, Dinda picked the early wickets of Wasim Jaffer and Virat Kohli to finish 2/9 from three overs as KKR won by 140 runs. Ponting, who played four matches for KKR that season, mentioned how he helped Dinda into the team.
“Ashok Dinda was a net bowler for us at Kolkata, and for 7-10 days, he literally ran in and bowled bouncers at all of us for every session. And I ended up saying to John Buchanan (then head coach of KKR) that ‘there is something about this guy, let’s give him a contract’,” Ponting said in a video posted on Delhi Capitals’ YouTube channel.
“And he ended up getting one. I think he took maybe the first three wickets as well of the IPL, and that was the start of what ended up being the 12 or 13-year career for Ashok Dinda in the IPL,” he added.
Ashok Dinda picked 69 IPL wickets in 10 IPL seasons
Dinda eventually ended with nine wickets from 13 games in the first season of IPL and overall claimed 69 wickets in 78 IPL games. Apart from KKR, Dinda also played for Pune Warriors, RCB, Rising Pune Supergiants and Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals).
On February 3, 2021, Ashok Dinda announced retirement from all formats of cricket after playing for one and a half-decade.
Also Read: Kolkata Knight Riders’ First-Ever Playing XI- Where Are They Now?
