IPL 2019 | Whatever you do first, you have to do it well, says Ricky Ponting

Expectations were high from the home crowd after the promising opening win against Mumbai Indians as the Delhi Capitals team took the field at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Tuesday to face defending champions - Chennai Super Kings. Capitals’ skipper Shreyas Iyer had won the toss and elected to bat first. However, opposition captain MS Dhoni didn’t seem to mind as he revealed that he would have bowled first anyway.

But Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting defended his team’s decision to bat first as he claimed that it would be much harder to bat in the second innings. After 15 overs in the first innings, the Capitals were at 118 for 2 with Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan still at the crease but the CSK bowlers did well to restrict the home side to just 147.

“We won batting first in Mumbai, It worked for us there,” Ponting told reporters in the post-match press conference. “So, whatever you do first, you just have to do it well. We know at the toss (MS) Dhoni said he would have bowled first. That doesn't worry us. (At the) end of the day, every team has to do what they think suits their team the best. With that wicket looking as dry as it did before the game started, we thought it would be a lot harder to bat in the second innings. If we had got a few more runs, the wicket would have looked even harder to bat on.

"Batting looked difficult at the end,” Ponting said when asked if his team should have batted first. “(And) through the middle parts of the innings. If we hadn't given away so many runs in the Powerplay, I think CSK would have found that target really hard to chase down. Through history, 165 is our average score here. Last year, our average score here was about 190. So, we are a long way off from what we wanted to achieve today. If we had posted even 165, I reckon it would have been a really tough run-chase."

Ponting, who was appointed as coach of the Delhi-based side last season, also spoke about new-recruit Shikhar Dhawan’s role in the team and how an ankle injury stopped him from playing to his full potential last night.

“Yes you'd like that (Dhawan should have scored at a quicker rate). Obviously, it wasn't an easy wicket either for anyone to come in and strike, especially at the end of the Powerplay. There's a certain role we want Shikhar to play in this team. Even by his own admission, he probably would have liked to score a little bit quicker today. But it was difficult for him. He did his ankle while he was batting as well so his usual running between the wickets was a little bit hampered tonight.

"We need to sit down in the next couple of days and talk about how we are going to bat better on that surface. The wickets we are going to get right through the season are going to be quite similar to the one we got tonight. We need to get a little bit smarter on that wicket," Ponting added.