I feel he was mislead by their pitch coordinator: DDCA hits back after Ponting slams Kotla track

The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association hit back at Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting, who had slammed the Feroz Shah Kotla wicket following his team’s five-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, PTI reported.

Sunrisers Hyderabad won the match on a low and slow Kotla track, which suited the visitors’ slow bowlers, prompting criticism from Ponting.

“I think it is fair to say that the wicket surprised us a lot,” Ponting said after the match.
“Talking to the groundsmen before the match, we thought this would be the best pitch that we had by far but it was the worst. You saw how little it bounced and how slow it was.”

However, a senior DDCA official said that Ponting speak to any of the groundsmen, nor was he promised a fast and fast track.

“To the best of my knowledge, Ricky Ponting only takes inputs from Delhi Capitals’ designated pitch coordinator,” he said.

“Therefore none of the DDCA groundsmen ever told Ponting that the pitch will aid fast bowlers. I feel Ponting was completely mislead by their pitch co-ordinator, the gentleman, who probably is not a qualified curator,” the official added.

The report stated that, after the match on Thursday night, Delhi advisor Sourav Ganguly was seen talking to Kotla pitch curator Ankit Datta for close to half an hour.

The senior DDCA official said that Delhi have been assured that they will try and do some “recovery work” as the next match is on April 18, against Mumbai Indians.

“We have two weeks’ time and we would try to provide a firm, even bounce wicket but we can’t promise anything. This year, Kotla hosted an ODI, four Ranji games, Deodhar Trophy games, U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy matches, BCCI women’s matches. In any case, Kotla track is slow and bald in nature. It is a tired track at the end of the season,” the official said.

However, the official also admitted that this year, the new management wanted Kotla to host most of the Board of Control for Cricket in India games.

“Roshanara is no longer on DDCA roster,” he added. “The junior matches earlier used to be played at the Stephen’s ground but this year bulk of it was played at Kotla. Ditto for so many women’s games. You can’t blame the curators.”