Playoffs are completely different, and our tournament really starts now: Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting refused to read too much into his team’s defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their last league match on Friday. Ponting instead termed the clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday in Qualifier 1 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, as a fresh opportunity to bounce back with a win. A triumph for DC will see them enter the final of IPL 2021, which will certainly be a spectacular achievement. Ponting is looking to take the positives from the loss against RCB, and improve ahead of the Qualifier match against CSK.

“It was a disappointing way for the game to end, and for us to lose the way we did, but I am not unhappy about it at all. I actually think, it’s a really good thing because it will give the boys a chance to reflect and think about how we can improve for Sunday’s game, and it’s a short turnaround, so you have to forget about things and start focusing on the next game,” said Ponting as quoted by DC’s official website.

“A lot to like about tonight’s game, even though we have lost. I think it’s a step forward. If you look at the last game (against Chennai Super Kings), it wasn’t a great performance, the Mumbai game wasn’t a great performance either, but we still managed to win those games. If you look at it, we probably have played better tonight than the games we have won, so that’s certainly the way I look at it. It’s not about end results, it’s about the performances we were putting on the board. Prithvi played his best game tonight, Shikhar probably looked his best in the tournament, so there’s a lot to like about this group. As I said earlier, we have played good cricket, the challenge now for us over the next week is to play great cricket, and I think that’s just around the corner for us,” he added.

“We should be very confident”

Ponting urged his players to be very confident going into the clash against CSK, having defeated the side led by Dhoni in both their league matches.

“I think we should be very confident. We have beaten them twice in the league games, but as you know, the playoff games are completely different, and our tournament really starts now. It starts when our players get their recovery done from tonight’s (Friday) game, and then we make sure we get ourselves in the right mindset to take on Chennai. They are also a very good side, they have been level pegging with us right throughout the tournament, who’s gonna finish first and who’s gonna second. So, we totally respect them as a playing group, and them as a franchise,” he stated.

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