IPL 2019: Ricky Ponting blasts Kotla wicket, stating it suited Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowlers more

The Kotla wicket that was prepared for the game between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday was a pitch tailor-made for the spinners. Sunrisers’ spin bowling duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi combined to take 3/39 in eight overs. Despite Shreyas Iyer’s 43 and some late strikes from Axar Patel which helped Delhi Capitals reach 129/8, Jonny Bairstow blasted 48 off 28 balls to help Sunrisers Hyderabad achieve the target with five wickets to spare. Speaking on the nature of the wicket, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting blasted the nature of the wicket in the post-match press conference.

“It (Pitch) absolutely suited their game. They have great spinners and all their seamers just bowled slower balls. And on that wicket, when you bowl slower balls it is near impossible to hit. But if the wicket is going to remain like this, then we have to think about our selection in our team as well. Maybe our bowlers were not suited to that wicket today but it was not what we expected so we are as surprised as anybody else. At the end of the day, it is the same pitch for both teams but if you would have asked me, would I have wanted to play Sunrisers on that type of pitch? I mean, there couldn't have been a different wicket where you would have wanted to play Sunrisers on,” Ponting said angrily.

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Ponting pointed out that the advantage of home conditions was totally taken away and that they needed to play the conditions much better. “This is our home ground and we need to play these conditions better than the opposition and two of three games our opposition has played better than us, so we definitely have to improve there. We will leave no stones unturned to make sure we are well prepared for the next game,” Ponting said.

Delhi Capitals will next take on bottom-ranked Royal Challengers Bangalore while Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal. This was their third loss in IPL 2019 from five games, having lost to Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab and now the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Delhi Capitals lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets.
• Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi took three wickets and gave away 39 runs.
• This was Delhi Capitals' second loss at home, having lost to Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.