Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting rued the sloppy fielding and inefficient bowling following the team’s 50-run loss to Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday.
Before Mark Wood’s pace took out the Delhi Capitals top order, Kyle Mayers’ outstanding 73 put the Lucknow Super Giants in a dominating position.
Talking about the missed opportunities on the field, Ponting said after the match, “To be totally honest, I think they got more runs than they probably should have.”
He added: “I don’t think we helped ourselves in the field today. Our fielding after the first four overs was really sloppy.”
West Indies all-rounder Kyle Mayers smashed 73 off 38 balls to guide Lucknow to 193-6 after being asked to bat first on their home ground. Mayers hammered seven sixes as he overcame a cautious start to tear into the opposition bowling with his big hitting.
“A couple of chances went down, a few misfields. One of those chances that went down was (Kyle) Mayers’, who ended up going on a bit of a run after that, which put us behind the game a little bit,” Ponting said.
“I think we conceded 16 sixes in our bowling innings. That goes to show that we were a fair bit off with our execution with our bowling. Whenever you’re giving up 16 sixes... and there’s only five fours, which is quite remarkable... it’s going to be hard to drag yourself back into the game.
“Looking at the wicket today, I didn’t think it was a 190-plus wicket. There was a lot of dew there. If anything, on that wicket, it was probably better for us batting second.”
Mayers, who was dropped on 14 by Khaleel Ahmed, notched up his fifty in 28 balls with a six and kept up the attack before being bowled by left-arm spinner Axar Patel.
“The thing with giving chances in the IPL is you’re giving very good players a second opportunity. And he cashed in. For pretty much from that moment on, he hit everything in the middle. He attacked our spin, which he played really well. So that’s just a good lesson for us,” Ponting added.
“We know that we have to be really sharp in the field. You can’t afford to put chances down, and if you do, you have to expect that they’re going to make you pay. There are a few reasons why we lost the game, and we’ll address those and hopefully improve for our next game.”
Later, Wood returned figures of 5/14 in a sensational spell in his first appearance for Lucknow to keep Delhi down to 143-9 in their chase of 194. The express bowler, who consistently bowled close to 150 kmh (93 mph), cleaned up Prithvi Shaw and then bowled Mitchell Marsh for a golden duck with successive balls
Talking about Wood, he said, “He was outstanding. He bowled the way we thought he would bowl. We know he will run in and bowl fast; we know he will run in and attack the stumps and use his bouncer. That’s what he did.”
He added, “He got those couple of bowleds and used his bouncer really well. Look, he’s a world-class fast bowler. As this tournament goes on, if he stays fit, you will see him bowl some really fast spells.”
Watch the press conference here.
Quotes via ESPNCricinfo and AFP