Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 team Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting has explained the reason why they decided to drop the Indian opening batsman Prithvi Shaw in the middle of the ongoing season, saying that the aggressive young batsman has not delivered up to the expectations.
The right-handed opening batsman Prithvi Shaw has time and again made his presence felt with strong batting performances in the Indian domestic cricket circuit but he has simply not delivered in the IPL, a competition in which other players have performed and made it to the Indian team with their strong display.
In the last 12 games that Prithvi Shaw has played for Delhi Capitals, he has not sold even a single half century which has led to his exit in the middle of IPL 2023 competition.
Ponting was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo, “It just came to the point, where yes, it was six games this season, but I think it was six or seven games at the back end of last season as well. I think it’s 13 [12] games since Prithvi has made a fifty opening the batting for the Delhi Capitals, which, if you look throughout the tournament, there are a lot of other players at the top of the order with other teams that are playing a whole lot better than Prithvi.”
Ricky Ponting said that Delhi Capitals desperately needed a strong opening partner with their captain David Warner who has been consistently making runs for the franchisee but the other batsmen have simply disappointed.
“We needed to find a bit of a spark at the top of the order, and Phil Salt moved there in the last game – that didn’t quite work as well. So yeah, Prithvi, absolutely, at his absolute best we know he is a match-winner. That’s one of the reasons that he is a retained player here at the Delhi Capitals, because we know that if he bats a certain amount of balls, we win about 95% of the games, but so far this season he hasn’t been able to produce.
The Delhi Capitals’ head coach Ricky Ponting highlighted Prithvi Shaw’s poor run of form as he has scored consistently low which has led to his exit from the playing XI in the IPL 2023.
“I think the six games that he played, it was just over 40-odd runs, averaging about 7 or 8, so that’s not what we require right now. So it was a tough decision to leave him out, but hopefully, the team that we put on the park tomorrow can win another game for us,” Ponting said.
When asked about whether he communicated the decision to drop Prithvi Shaw himself to the player, Ricky Ponting said, ”It’s not difficult to have the conversation, because that’s what my job is, When guys are not performing, or even when they are performing, it’s my job to have good, honest, open, adult conversations with all the players, and nothing’s different with Prithvi. I talk the same way to him as I talk to any guys that are scoring runs.
“But as it sort of worked out, when he arrived this year, he had been at the NCA [National Cricket Academy] for quite a few weeks, he had been working really hard on his fitness. He turned up in good physical shape, and his work ethic and training and everything he did in the nets suggested to me that this might be just that big year for him.
Before the start of IPL 2023, Ricky Ponting had made tall claims about Prithvi Shaw being informed and looking very promising in the lead up to the tournament which had raised hopes of a strong season for the right-handed Indian batsmen.
“I actually came out publicly and said it, on record, saying that I thought he would be one of our standout players for the tournament. That hasn’t worked out just yet, but saying that, there’s a long way to go. If things don’t work out with our current top order, there’s no reason why he couldn’t be back in the team, and if he gets back in the team, then hopefully he can finish the tournament really strongly.