"They are a very good team": DC head coach Ponting hails CSK ahead of IPL clash with defending champs
Mar 31, 2024
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], March 31 : Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting heaped praise on five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), labelling them a 'very good team'.
The Delhi-based franchise will take on the CSK at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
In a video shared on the official social media handle of the IPL, Ponting said his side understands the 'importance' of the upcoming clash against the CSK, as they lost their opening two matches of the ongoing IPL season.
"You don't want to lose any games, let alone lose two in a row at the start of the tournament. So, we understand the importance of this game, obviously. CSK are a very good team. They've won their first couple of games. They won the championship last year, so I think for us right now, the bigger the challenge is probably the better for us," Ponting said.
Predicting a win for DC over the defending champions, the former Australia captain said skipper Rishabh Pant will hit a boundary in the last over to give Delhi their first win of the season.
"What would I like to see? I would like to see Rishabh Pant on strike in the last over, Delhi with 12 to win and Rishabh hitting a boundary off the last ball to win the game for Delhi. I mean, that'd be the story that a lot of people would like to see. That's the story that DC fans would like to see. And I'm sure there's the opposite story for the CSK fans," the Tasmanian, nicknamed the 'Punter', added.
The Delhi-based franchise had a typically indifferent start to their IPL campaign, losing their first match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by four wickets.
In their second match, the Pant-led team fell to an agonising 12-run defeat to the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Currently, the DC are at the bottom of the IPL standings with no points to their kitty and a net run rate of -0.528.
Delhi Capitals Squad: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (Wk/C), Ricky Bhui, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Vicky Ostwal, Praveen Dubey, Jhye Richardson, Anrich Nortje, Prithvi Shaw, Lalit Yadav, Rasikh Dar Salam, Kumar Kushagra, Yash Dhull, Swastik Chikara.
