IPL 2022 | Rishabh Pant is the right choice for the captaincy of Delhi Capitals, Ricky Ponting backs DC skipper

Delhi Capitals played their final league game against Mumbai Indians and suffered a defeat by five wickets. The team was knocked out of the tournament with the loss. Batting first, DC posted a total of 159/7. Rovman Powell was the leading run-scorer with 43 runs. 

Chasing the target, Tim David played a decisive cameo at the back end. He slammed 34 runs from just 11 balls. However, a blunder cost DC the match as the Rishabh Pant refused to opt for DRS after David edged the first ball of his innings. There has been a lot of criticism on Pant’s leadership but Ponting backed the wicketkeeper-batter. 

"Absolutely, no doubt in my mind that Rishabh even in the last season he was the right choice for captain. Rishabh did a terrific job with the team after he took over from Shreyas (Iyer) after he injured his shoulders," Ponting said during the press conference.

"...he is just a young man and still learning captaincy. Being captain of a T20 team, especially in IPL, which is a high pressure tournament, is not an easy thing to do and unfortunately, every single thing you do will be scrutinised. He certainly got my full backing."

DC lost their four wickets early in the first innings and were reduced to 50/4. Rishabh Pant and Rovman Powell stitched a decisive partnership to steady the innings. Pant scored 39 runs while Powell amassed 43 runs to post a decent total. Ponting admitted that the batting of the team was not very good. 

"It is always hard to put a finger on one single aspect of the game. Top of the order our batting was poor, we were four down for 40, which is not the ideal way to start a T20 game, specially big games which you have to win," he stated

"Obviously, Tim David played well. He was probably out first ball but there are so many aspects of the game we will be disappointed with. The players need to learn from games like that.”