Ricky Ponting | IPL 2019 | Delhi Capitals |
Ricky Ponting. Credit: IPL

Delhi Capitals (DC) went down against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets after winning their first game in the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL). Following their loss, Shikhar Dhawan’s batting has been the talking point as he failed to score runs at a good pace. He has struggled to put runs at a good strike rate including in the game against Mumbai Indians. Dhawan’s strike-rate has been less than 115, which is considered poor in T20 format as his scores of 43 off 36 balls (MI) and 51 off 47 balls (CSK) would indicate. Ricky Ponting said that it was a difficult pitch to bat but wanted his opener to score a bit quick.

We have specific role for Dhawan: Ponting

Meanwhile, Delhi also suffered as they lost quick wickets in the last five overs. Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer had set the platform for the middle-order to come and accelerate, but they lost wickets in a bid to do so. Speaking about Dhawan at the end of the game, Ricky Ponting said they would like the southpaw to score quick runs, but the wicket was not suitable in the last game. He also added that they have a proper role for Shikhar Dhawan to play and it was the middle-order who failed to score runs.

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IPL 2019: Can't Expect Rishabh Pant to Score Everyday - Ricky Ponting
IPL

Ideally, yes you’d like that. But it obviously wasn’t an easy wicket either for anyone to go in and strike, especially at the end of the PowerPlay,” Ponting said.

There’s a certain role that we want Shikhar to play in this team. Even by his own admission, he would’ve liked to score quicker today but at the 15th over mark we were 118 for 2. We struggled to get to 147 so it’s the back-end of the innings that I am sort of most disappointed in because I think we set up the front part of the innings pretty well,” he added.

Pant can’t score every day: Ponting

The former Australia skipper also pointed out it is not right to expect Rishabh Pant to score runs in each game. Pant’s dismissal who gt out after a quickfire knock was the turning point of the game. He also noted that Colin Ingram and skipper Shreyas Iyer also had an opportunity but failed to capitalise on it.

IPL 2019: Can't Expect Rishabh Pant to Score Everyday - Ricky Ponting
IPL

No, we can’t expect Rishabh to play like he did in Mumbai, every day. No one can do that. Nobody can go and get 78 off 20-odd balls in every game. But it was there for that to happen today. It wasn’t just Rishabh, (Colin) Ingram had an opportunity as well. Shreyas (Iyer) had a good opportunity again today,” Ricky Ponting explained.

Delhi Capitals face Kolkata Knight Riders up next on March 30 (Saturday).

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