One more season done and one more disappointment. Alongwith RCB & Punjab, Delhi is the only side not to have won even a single IPL trophy in 16 attempts. Even in a short span, Deccan Chargers and Gujarat Titans managed to win one apiece but not Delhi. This despite the fact that they are having whom Nasser Hussain calls the greatest thinker of the game at the moment, Ricky Ponting. Ponting himself must have felt helpless because he had to work within the rules of the game. Otherwise, there is no point in persisting with such mediocre performers like Prithvi Shaw. Delhi Capitals IPL 2023 review.
Ricky Ponting, the coach is not used to this performance from his side. He afterall is the most successful international captain. He captained Australia to great heights the likes of which this world has seldom seen. Not even the mighty West Indians or the wily South Africans can match the performance of Australia under Ricky Ponting. The same Ponting must be really disappointed and angry at his team. Perhaps, great teams make great captain is true.
The curious case of Prithvi Shaw
Before the start of the tournament, Ponting had high hopes on Shaw. “He’s trained harder and better than I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure leading into an IPL, he is in better physical shape than I’ve ever seen him before,” Ponting told reporters in Delhi on Friday. “And I spoke to him the other day about his attitude and the way that he’s working and how things are going. I honestly feel that this is going to be his biggest season ever in the IPL.”
Success has come his way too sooner than he deserves. It is clear that Shaw does not really learn from his mistakes. He has continuously failed to deceive. Whether he even works hard is open to questioning. If reports are to be believed, he was warned by the BCCI repeatedly for poor fitness and poor attitude but he does seem to change. His non-performance was so bad that Delhi was eventually forced to drop him from the squad. A fall for someone who is touted to achieve higher laurels for India. All the faults that the Indian selectors found in him seem to be intact.
It will be a miracle if he even plays for India again with this attitude. He seems to think that he is bigger than the game but he fails to realise that it will come back to bite him. If there is a limited auction this year-end, Delhi will be pleased to release Shaw from their pool. I am sure Ponting has had enough of such a spoilt brat.
Shaw will have to talk to Gill
One is forced to ask Ponting whether he has worked with Shaw to solve his technical problem of which Ponting himself spoke on-air during the 2020 Australian tour. One biggest problem with Shaw is his lack of fitness. For a 23 years old, he definitely looks overweight. For someone who was expected to break into the Indian white-ball squad more than a year ago, he is not even on the radar now. It shows the depths Shaw has fallen. Time is running out for Shaw. His compatriot in the U-19 World Cup squad, Shubman Gill has established himself in all the 3 formats and is even being touted as the future Indian captain. Shaw will have to look at himself in the mirror and ask some tough questions. Does he want to be remembered as an Indian cricketer or just one among the many Ranji cricketers?
At this rate, I could see Prithvi Shaw following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Unmukt Chand and going over to America because he will find opportunities that are few and far between in India. Shaw is a classical example of how a talent has gone to waste because he wasn’t able to handle the limelight quite well.
Where were the batsmen?
Just 5 wins out of 14 and a lowly finish of 9th. This damning statistic will hurt David Warner and Ricky Ponting. It shows that Delhi was either poor in terms of skills or poor in terms of execution. In Mitchell Marsh, Phil Salt & David Warner, they had enough destructive batsmen but they never fired in unison. Therein lay the actual problem. It was mostly left to Axar Patel to transform a middling score into a fighting score. Yet, they somehow managed to pull off an incredible win against Punjab Kings. Perhaps, Ponting should have gone back to his punter days and promoted Axar Patel higher up in the order considering the number of runs that he scored.
Bowlers were missing
Mitchell Marsh was the highest wicket taker for Delhi. 12 wickets. This single statistic reveals a lot about Delhi’s bowling. Where were the bowlers? From when were they missing? If an allrounder ends up as the highest wicket taker, the team as a whole does not deserve to progress to the next round.
Wrapping up Delhi Capitals IPL 2023 review
They have deceived for far too long. They had enough firepower to play with. Yet, Delhi could win only 5 games in the whole tournament. For someone like Ricky Ponting, who usually expects any team that he leads to win all the games, this must have been a huge disappointment. Could he have done anything differently? He could have dropped Shaw a longtime ago and could have promoted Axar Patel. Perhaps, Warner could have been persuaded to come down the order with Marsh and Salt opening the innings. Nortje and Ngidi could have formed a potent bowling attack alongwith Kuldeep Yadav. Next year, Ponting can be expected to do things a bit differently.
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