DC vs SRH: Ricky Ponting Slams Prithvi Shaw For Not Giving `Spark At The Top`

Ponting has billed Shaw as the standout perfomer for Delhi Capitals at the start of the season but the opener has proved him wrong by scoring just 47 runs in 6 games in IPL 2023 so far.

Delhi Capitals (DC) opener Prithvi Shaw has been a big disappointment for the franchise in IPL 2023. See the numbers that underline Shaw's struggles in IPL: 6 games and just 47 runs. Let's not even get to the average and strike rate after looking at his aggregate so far in the T20 league. DC head coach Ricky Ponting was critical of Shaw when he met the reporters ahead of their return fixture with Sunrisers Hyderabad at home. Ponting said that the team had big expectations from Shaw at the start of the season but the opener failed to live up to them.

Shaw's dry run

Ponting, Ex-Australian captain, said that Shaw has been failing to deliver the goods for the last 112 to 14 matches. "It was six games this season, I think six or seven games in the back end of the last season. I think it is 13 games (12) since Prithvi has made a fifty while opening the batting," Ponting told the reporters.

Shaw has not played enough balls

DC coach said that Shaw has not score runs but has not even played enough balls as well, which is the primary reason for his failure. "We needed to find that spark at the top of the order, and Prithvi has failed to give us that start. Prithvi, we know, is a match-winner and was one of the reasons why he was being retained. We know if he bats through a certain amount of balls, we are going to win 95 per cent of the matches. So far this season, he has just managed 40-odd runs; that’s just not enough," Ponting said.

DC opener proved Ponting wrong

Ponting said that he had billed Shaw as one of the standout performers for Delhi Capitals but he has obviously been proved wrong by the batter. He added that when Pant arrived to DC camp, his work ethic was strong and he was quite impressed. "I actually came out and publicly said that on record that he might be our standout player throughout the tournament, but that hasn’t worked out just yet but there’s still a long way to go. If things don’t work out with the current top order, there’s no reason why he couldn’t be back in the team and if he gets back, hopefully, he will be able to finish the tournament strongly," said Ponting.

Role of anchor dying, says Ponting

Ponting believes that no team is now looking to put money on anchors. He said that teams are looking for flying starts and when a wicket falls, they are looking to send another explosive batter to continue the momentum. "If you look through most line-ups, they don’t have batsmen with 115-120 strike rate up there, and if they lose a wicket, they send another explosive batter," said Ponting.