With three wins and three losses in their first six matches, JSW and GMR co-owned franchise, Delhi Capitals, have had an inconsistent start to the IPL season, but their Head Coach Ricky Ponting believes that his team is in the right frame of mind to perform in the upcoming matches. The legendary Australian spoke to the media today ahead of his team’s match against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Friday.

The last time Delhi Capitals played KKR was in the 10th match of IPL 2019 held in Delhi, where Ponting’s team defeated the visitors only in the Super Over. Ponting believes that the win in Delhi will help his side tomorrow as well. He said, “When you’re playing a team twice in a tournament, it’s always nice to win the first game against them. We understand that they are a very, very good team and we know that they rely on couple of their stars to get them over the line more often than not. So we need to make sure that those players don’t get away from us tomorrow. Andre Russell has been outstanding, so we need to be on our toes and especially in his case because he took the game away from us last time in Delhi as well. We are coming off a win, and the guys have had a couple of days’ rest here in Kolkata, so the boys are pretty refreshed. We will go into tomorrow’s game in the right frame of mind and with confidence of giving tough competition to the home side, and winning.”

Ponting was also questioned about the batting collapses that the Capitals have faced this season. “I am not really worried about the collapses if it means that we secure the win early. But the defeat to Kings XI was something that I am definitely worried about. But the thing that I did not mind about the RCB game was that the boys were looking to finish the match early and taking the challenge on. And I like that mind-set, because when it comes to the big games, you need to have that mind-set that you need to get across the line. The batting group are aware of the collapses, we just need to make sure that we do not lose the matches in this process,” he said.

Asked whether Delhi Capitals is a team led completely by young captain Shreyas Iyer, or whether the senior players and coaching staff play a major role in building the team, Ricky said, “It is actually both. It is 100% Shreyas Iyer’s team, he is the captain of our team. And as we know with captains of any team, once the game starts, the captain is also the coach. So it is my job and the rest of the coaches’ job that we make sure that we are making his job as easy as possible. He is a terrific, determined young man. He is developing his leadership very well. He has been here for a very short time as captain, but he has captained Mumbai this year, and India A as well. It is definitely a high-pressure job and environment but I am very happy with the way he has taken the responsibility.”

The corresponding fixture last season saw KKR produce a stunning all-round display as they beat Delhi by 71 runs at the Eden Gardens. Batting first, KKR ended up with a score of 200/9 in their 20 overs as Nitish Rana (59 off 35), Andre Russell (41 off 12) and Robin Uthappa (35 off 19) powered them to a huge score. In reply, Delhi lost three quick wickets but Glenn Maxwell’s 47 off 22 and Rishabh Pant’s 43 off 26 gave them some momentum. However, KKR’s Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav took 3 wickets each to restrict Delhi to a low total of 129 all out in just 14.2 overs.

The two teams have faced each other on 24 occasions, with Kolkata Knight Riders having won 13 matches while Delhi registered their 10th win over the home side when they won the match in Super Over earlier in the season in New Delhi. One match between the two teams has ended in a No-Result.