It’s not easy to win a T20 game when a team loses three wickets in the Powerplay. Delhi Capitals (DC) somehow did manage to do it once, against Mumbai Indians, but to do it twice in two games was always going to be tough. And that was the main reason for their loss to Gujarat Titans (GT) at the MCA Stadium here on Saturday, felt DC’s head coach Ricky Ponting.
Chasing a target of 172, a score described by both Ponting and DC skipper Rishabh Pant as gettable on the Pune pitch, Delhi were reduced to 34 for three inside the first five overs. “Unfortunately for us, for the second game in a row, it was three wickets in the Powerplay. We did have the game in hand, but if you lose three wickets in the Powerplay, it’s really hard to win games. That’s certainly one area we need to get better at,” Ponting said at the post-match press conference.
Lockie Fergusson was the wrecker-in-chief for the Titans, with a four-wicket haul, and Ponting was all praise for the pacer. “I thought the way [GT skipper] Hardik [Pandya] used Lockie was quite smart tonight. He used him as a strike bowler and it didn’t really surprise me with the way he bowled. We had talked about him, how he’ll run in and hit the wicket. He used his short ball really well and picked up four wickets,” Ponting said.
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