Ricky Ponting reveals actual reason why he parted ways with Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals’ best performance under Ricky Ponting came in 2020 when they reached the IPL final.

In July, legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting parted ways with the Delhi Capitals (DC) as their head coach ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction.

This decision came after the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi finished sixth in the IPL 2024 points table. The Capitals had a neck-to-neck competition for fourth place with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but Delhi were eliminated due to poor net run rate.

Ponting was with the Delhi-based franchise since the IPL 2018 season. During his tenure as the head coach, the Capitals failed to clinch the prestigious IPL title.

Under Ponting, Delhi reached the playoffs thrice in seven seasons. In 2020, they entered their maiden IPL final, which they lost to Mumbai Indians.

Moreover, DC have failed to qualify for the playoffs in the last three seasons.

They made it pretty clear: Ricky Ponting

Following his exit as head coach of Delhi Capitals, Ponting said things didn’t work out with the way the franchise owners wanted, which is an IPL trophy.

“I’ve had a great time every year that I’ve been involved, whether that was in the early days as a player or the couple of years I had at Mumbai as head coach there. And then I’ve had seven seasons at Delhi, which unfortunately didn’t really work out the way that I would have wanted and certainly the way that the franchise would have wanted. I think me going there was all about trying to bring some silverware to the team and that didn’t happen,” Ponting said on the ICC review.

The legendary cricketer Ponting revealed that the Delhi-based franchise told him that they want someone who would be available in India during the off-season as well to keep an eye on the local talents. He parted ways with the side since he couldn’t commit the extra time the franchise demanded. Ponting further feels that DC are likely to rope in an Indian coach.

“They made it pretty clear that they wanted to head in a different direction with someone that could give them a bit more time and a bit more availability through the off-season, really more than anything to be able to spend a bit more time in India with a lot of the local players. I just couldn’t do that with the other stuff that I’ve got going on,” Ponting added.

“I think what you’ll find is that they’ll probably end up with an Indian-based head coach. Certainly that’s some of the dialogue that I’ve had with them anyway,” Ponting further added.

Would love coaching in the IPL next season: Ponting

The Australian expressed further that he would love to coach in the IPL again down the line.

“But I’m really thankful for my time that I had there, met some great people, worked with some great people and obviously worked with some great players through the years as well. So I wish them all the very best but as I said there could be a few opportunities for me popping up in the next couple of months and I’d love to be back coaching in the IPL again next season,” Ponting concluded.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket for IPL 2024 Live Score & IPL Points Table,  on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.