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Sunil Gavaskar's Atrocious Remark On Ricky Ponting After DC's Miserable Run


image-li1izj6iPonting in DC colours during IPL 2023 (Twitter)

Former legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting for his failure to take the Capitals to new heights in IPL 2023 edition. He bluntly held Ponting responsible for DC's dismal run this season and reckoned that his coaching did more harm than good. After emerging as table toppers in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the Delhi-based franchise lost its composure as a unit and finished at the number 9 position in the points table despite the guidance of renowned sports personalities like Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting.

But it was not Ganguly whom he went after. Gavaskar observed some grave flaws in Ponting's coaching techniques and cited some of his tactical blunders which resulted in the embarrassing downfall of DC this season. 

"The two bottom placed teams have plenty of food for thought. They were coached by two of the greatest batters in the history of the game, and yet their teams finished in the bottom half," he wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Moving on to the underlying reasons, the 73-year-old pointed several potential factors that contributed to Ponting's failure as a coach. For one, Gavaskar observed that the younger players featuring the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull and Priyam Garg were not given ample opportunities which lead to their significant decline in form.

"What might have looked like an easy-to-rectify problem during their playing days is not conveyed in the same facile way they solved it themselves. Often, the language is a barrier for a young, budding Indian player who comes from the interiors and may not be conversant in English to understand. That probably explains why players like Yash Dhull, Priyam Garg, and Sarfaraz Khan, to name just three, have made little or no progress."

"Prithvi Shaw has also not been able to come to terms with the delivery around the ribcage, and the result has been a shortage of runs from some of the most promising and prolific young players in the country."

And finally, Gavaskar was livid with Ponting's arrogance to promote Axar Patel up the order who did a lot of heavy lifting when his side required it the most. This even promoted a cheeky response from the former Indian Team Coach Ravi Shastri who wondered what exactly was stopping Axar from batting high up the order.