IPL 2020 | Kagiso Rabada is the ultimate competitor, loves playing against the best, opines Ricky Ponting

Kagiso Rabada continued his exceptional run in the 13th edition of the IPL as he ended with figures of 2/21 against Sunrisers Hyderababd on September 29 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. The South African quick has taken off from he had left in the last season where he picked 25 wickets in 12 games and emerged as a strike-bowler for the Delhi-based franchise. In 2020 IPL, he is the numero-uno in list of highest-wicket-takers as he has scalped seven wickets in three games with an economy of 6.25.

Praising KG Rabada's performances for Delhi Capitals, who last year made it to the play offs after many years, DC head coach Ricky Ponting opined at the post-match presser that KG is the ultimate competitor, who loves putting his hands up and performing to the best of his abilities against the best of batsmen. 

"He's just the ultimate competitor. He loves pitting himself against some of the best batsmen in the world. He has performed exceptionally well for the Delhi Capitals," the former Australian captain said at the post-match presentation. 

Shreyas Iyer had remarked that the wicket was two-paced, however, Ponting was of the opinion that the conditions in Abu Dhabi weren't too different from Dubai. He also termed SRH's top-order performance as the differentiator in the game. 

"I don't think the conditions were that different. The grounds are bigger, there are bigger square boundaries here. (But) At the end of the day, we were just outplayed by Sunrisers Hyderabad. We were a little bit off from our absolute best. SRH had good top-order partnerships and they rotated the strike well, and a few of them made big scores. So that was the difference in the game," stated Ponting. 

The 45-year-old felt the wicket got better when Delhi Capitals were batting in the middle chasing 163 runs. He also added that there was dew on the ground that would have gone against SRH, so there's no excuse for this defeat at the hands of David Warner's men. He also felt had one of the top-order batsmen clicked, DC would have sealed the game.

"If one of those guys make a big score (60 or 70+), then we probably win the game. It looked like a really good wicket. As we saw with the new ball, there wasn't a lot of bounce. Warner and Bairstow played the conditions really well early on. They got the boundaries when they needed to, ran the twos exceptionally well.

"The wicket might have been slightly better in the second innings which is disappointing for us, having won the toss and deciding to chase. We felt there might be a bit of dew in the ground and having just walked the outfield now, there was dew, so no excuses from us. We were outplayed," said Ponting.