'Rishabh Pant is just a young man and still learning captaincy' - Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting on Saturday (May 21) has supported Rishabh Pant after his strategic blunder that cost them a place in the play-offs, claiming that he is still young and learning the captaincy and he remains the best choice for the job. 

With Mumbai Indians at 95 for 3 in 14.4 overs, while chasing a mere target of 160, Pant made a blunder by refusing to take the DRS after Tim David nicked the first ball of his innings, and the onfield umpire didn't give him out too.

After that, the Singaporean batter became a nightmare for them, as David smashed 34 runs off just 11 balls with the help of two fours and four sixes to snatch the game out of DC's grasp.

"Absolutely, no doubt in my mind that Rishabh, even in the last season, he was the right choice for captain. Rishabh did a terrific job with the team after he took over from Shreyas (Iyer) after he injured his shoulders," Ricky Ponting said during the press conference. 

"He is just a young man and still learning captaincy. Being captain of a T20 team, especially in IPL, which is a high-pressure tournament, is not an easy thing to do, and unfortunately, every single thing you do will be scrutinised. He certainly got my full backing."

Ponting, however, has also said that he was 'gutted' to see the match slip away, but he didn't blame the captain for the defeat.

"It is always hard to put a finger on one single aspect of the game. Obviously, Tim David played well. He was probably out first ball, but there are so many aspects of the game we will be disappointed with. The players need to learn from games like that. I feel pretty gutted that the game slipped through out of our hands."

Mumbai's captain Rohit Sharma has also backed the young DC captain, saying that such fumbles happen on the field.

"He is a quality captain; we have seen it in the past season how he leads his team. Sometimes things don't go your way; I have gone through such situations, such things happen on the ground, sometimes things don't pan out your way," Rohit said. 

"He can take a lot of learning and try and keep things simple, he has a great mind, he reads the game well from behind. He will comeback strong," the MI captain concluded.