‘Embarrassed, ‘Unacceptable’: Ricky Ponting’s strong words after DC’s thrashing against KKR

“It’s pretty hard to assess right now,” Ponting said in the press conference. “I mean I was almost embarrassed with our first half of the game today. To concede that many runs, we bowled 17 wides. It took us two hours to bowl our overs as well, so we were two overs behind again, which means the guys bowling last two overs only get to bowl with four fieldsmen outside the circle.”

Ponting pointed out it was the second time they overshot the bowling time and while KKR were anyway going to post 250-plus on the night, it could cost them dearly in future matches if they can’t correct it.

DC vs KKR highlights – IPL 2024

“Lot of things happened in this game that were unacceptable and a lot of things we will talk as a group tonight that we have to fix immediately to go forward in the competition. There will be some good open discussions in the changing room for sure,” Ponting added.

One of the crucial moments in the match turned out to be a non-review in the PowerPlay. In the fourth over bowled by Ishant Sharma, Narine swung at a short-of-length ball that carried through to Rishabh Pant. There were no appeals from the keeper or bowler but Mitch Marsh heard a noise, and by the time Pant went for a review it was too late on the DRS timer. As it turned out, with Narine batting on 24, DC could have had his wicket had they reviewed. Ponting however said they had bigger problems than that.

‘Bigger concerns’

“There were two (missed reviews), Narine was missed and then Shreyas Iyer was missed later on. I am not sure what happened there. Obviously, Rishabh had not heard them. Other fielders and bowlers on the ground actually heard something on both occasions. Look at the end of the day, they are little things and there are bigger concerns for us,” Ponting said.

The Aussie also conceded KKR were relentless after the start they got, reserving special mention for 18-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and DC were never able to pull it back.

“They got off to a flying start in the powerplay. They were around 90 runs after six overs (88/1). That phase is not ideal; if that happens at the start of the game, then you are always trying to fight your way back into the game and they did not allow us to do that today. They were relentless, they kept going at us. I thought the youngster at No.3 played really well and that allowed Russ and all those guys to play the way they always play. And they had wickets in hand, so they can keep going hard. They did lots of things really well but we’ve got to be really critical of ourselves, on our own performances, and we got to look at ways to get better for the next game.”

DC’s heavy defeat damaged their Net Run Rate and they currently find themselves ninth on the points table. They next take on fellow strugglers Mumbai Indians on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium.