Mumbai: Not giving off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin his full quota of overs was ‘probably a mistake’ according to Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting. He admitted the mistake after Delhi Capitals went down by the by three wickets in the IPL clash against Rajasthan Royals here. Ravichandran Ashwin conceded just 14 runs and no boundaries in his three overs. He was brought on to bowl after the power play when DC were defending a modest 148.
There were two left-handers – David Miller (62) and Rahul Tewatia (19) – in the middle. New skipper Rishabh Pant introduced Marcus Stoinis in the attack instead of continuing with Ashwin in the 13th over. The Australian conceded 15 runs which included three fours. It shifted the momentum of the game in favour of the Rotals.
“That’s certainly something that we will talk about when I get a chance to sit down with the team. Ashwin had bowled beautifully. Three overs, none for 14. Hadn’t even conceded a boundary,” Ponting said after the game.
“He (Ashwin) had a disappointing match in game one. However, he has worked really hard in the last few days to make sure he adjusted and got things right in this game. I thought he bowled beautifully tonight (Thursday). Probably a mistake on our behalf, and something we will be talking about later on,” the former Australian skipper added.
The Royals needed 58 from the last five overs. Chris Morris smashed four sixes in the last two overs to take the team home with two balls to spare.
“We probably gave him (Morris) a few too many easy balls, a few too many slot balls if you like,” Ponting pointed out. “The length wasn’t quite where it needed to be. If you look at the replay of the game, if you bowled a reasonable yorker, he didn’t score off them. We talked about how to bowl to him, but the execution probably wasn’t there,” added Ponting.
The Australian asserted that dew was a factor in the second innings as bowlers found it difficult to grip the ball. “The other thing you have got to factor in is just how wet and how dewy the ball was in the second innings of the game,” Ponting said.
“It wasn’t easy for the bowlers to grip. You could see it at the end there. There were a few full tosses that fast bowlers bowled with the ball slipping out of their hand a little bit. That’s part and parcel of IPL cricket. However, we didn’t adapt, and we didn’t execute as well as we could have tonight,” pointed out Ponting.
The former Australian skipper said errors in the last four overs cost them the match. “Till around the 13th-over mark in our bowling innings, everything was going according to plan. We made a few errors coming in the last four or five overs of the game. That cost us the game,” he informed.
Ponting is impressed with pacer Avesh Khan’s performance in the last two games. “He has been ultra impressive. Physically he has lost a bit of weight. He is bowling faster, his action is better, his line and length, variations have been excellent,” he said. “He has grabbed his opportunities with both hands,” he added.
