When the Delhi Daredevils management decided to overhaul the entire set-up, right from the coaching and support staff to the players for the 11th edition of the IPL, it had hoped to change the long-standing disappointing trend of finishing in the bottom half.
Chief coach Ricky Ponting was part of that overhaul, including captain Gautam Gambhir, but the season didn't exactly pan out as they would have liked. While Gambhir stepped down midway, Ponting came under criticism for some selection decisions.
On Sunday, after DD won its final league match against the mighty Mumbai Indians, Ponting admitted there were lapses at crucial moments that cost them games but insisted that all the decisions were taken in the best interests of the team.
“The fact of the matter is that we had a tough draw, we had five games in a row away of which we won only one. We knew debuting 17-year-old kids with our backs to the wall wasn't probably the right way to go about it. So we played more experienced players in those big games, hoping we could still qualify. And up until two weeks ago, we did have a chance. We blew a game, maybe against SRH, but I think we got the selections right with our Indian talent,” said Ponting.
While praising Rishabh Pant, Ponting admitted that the rest of the Daredevils batsmen failed to get going when needed.
“It was an outstanding season for Rishabh but we needed more contributions from our top-order batsmen if we had to have a shot at the title this year. We did not get consistency from our batting group to be up there with the leading teams in the tournament,” Ponting said.
About persisting with Glenn Maxwell despite the Australian having a lean season, Ponting said: “When we went to the auction table, I had Glenn pencilled in as our No. 4 batsman. He missed the first game because of Aaron Finch’s wedding, which meant that Rishabh batted at four and did well. When Glenn came in, he was at five, which isn’t a position he has played too much in. We stuck with him because we were taking every game as a final and wanted the best team to put it on the way to winning. We felt Glenn was our best chance of being a match-winner.”
While complimenting the players for winning the last two games against CSK and MI, Ponting insisted that it was the result of the hard work put in throughout the season. “If you look back, there were so many games we could have won, some we should have won where we were not able to play our best cricket at crucial times... but I am proud of the way the boys finished on a high,” he said.
