The Delhi Capitals look to begin a new era, under a new coaching staff, as Ricky Ponting heads to Punjab Kings as the franchise's mentor after spending 7 years in the capital. Together with Ricky Ponting, India great Sourav Ganguly was tasked with the responsibility of helping DC to fetch that elusive IPL title that has been evading it since the beginning. However, both Ponting and Ganguly are off to new assignments as the Delhi franchise continues to wait for its maiden IPL title. For Mohammad Kaif, who also worked with DC as a member of the coaching staff, many mistakes were made by Ponting during his stint as the team's mentor, and hence, the franchise bosses decided to move on.
"I think Ponting would himself admit he could have done better because the team we made, me, Ganguly...you won't believe there were times we could think whom should we drop. There was no place for Ajinkya Rahane, Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, even Hetmyer. Then when we went to the auction...this was Ganguly who decided and I must praise him for that. He said we have to back the Indian players. He talked to Shikhar Dhawan, after which that trade had happened with Hyderabad," Kaif said in a video posted on his social media.
Kaif cited the example of Shikhar Dhawan's trade from Sunrisers Hyderabad, which proved to be a masterstroke for the franchise. However, Kaif has claimed that Ponting didn't want the trade to take place, but was convinced by Ganguly to go ahead.
"Now we were stuck still thinking if we should make the trade, and it was Ganguly who convinced us that we needed him. Ponting did not agree. He felt his career was over, because it was right when he was dropped from the Test team. In fact, this thing was highlighted in the meeting that Dhawan is a trusted player who can score 500 runs in a season. David Warner was in Hyderabad, and I feel he must have influenced Ponting against going with Dhawan. I feel he must have told Ponting that he no longer remains a great player. But Ganguly and Parth Jindal backed Dhawan and traded him, and the India batter proved us right because we had reached the final that season where he scored a lot of runs. So I feel Ponting might have regretted that he would have done better because they did not win a trophy in those seven years. In fact, Ganguly should be credited for bringing Ashwin to the team as well," he claimed.
After the IPL 2024 season, Ponting was let by the Delhi franchise. Kaif feels DC must've felt that the former Australia captain no longer had game-plans to lead the troops. Hence, he had to be released from his responsibilities.
"The franchise owner must have felt Ponting no longer had good game plans. Now, Ponting is a huge name. He is in that Sachin Tendulkar category. Now, if a franchise tells him 'thank you so much' and parts ways, that means they feel that he is looking flat with his game plans."
Kaif also called out a big mistake that Ponting made after joining Punjab Kings. The fact that the franchise decided to let go of top players like Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone, speaks volumes of the management's mindset. Kaif feels the trio should've been retained.
"Now, he went to Punjab, and he followed the same tactic as the old coaches, retaining a few players and keeping a bigger purse. I felt they were wrong. Look at the Mumbai Indians. Despite finishing last, they retained their core players because they believed that they could still win a title. They backed the same players irrespective of their value. What Ponting did is the same as previous PBKS coaches and I'm not a fan of that. They could have retained Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone. See, there is no guarantee that a franchise can retain the same player at an auction for a lesser price," he said.
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