Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif, on Monday, exposed Australia legend Ricky Ponting’s coaching style as he opened up on his partnership with him at Delhi Capitals. Kaif revealed how Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly played a major role in Delhi’s run to the final in 2020, and said that Ponting’s biggest regret in his seven-year tenure as head coach would be not winning the IPL trophy.
Ponting had joined Delhi Capitals in 2018. Kaif had joined as the assistant coach for 2019 and 2020. Meanwhile, Ganguly was named as the Director of Cricket ahead of the 2019 season.
Speaking in a video posted on his social media handle, Kaif praised Ganguly for showing the need of an Indian core in an IPL team to win the trophy as he revealed how the former India captain and Ponting were at loggerheads over getting Shikhar Dhawan from Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the 2019 season. While Ponting, speculated to be under the influence of compatriot David Warner, who was then at SRH, reckoned Dhawan’s career was over, Ganguly convinced the franchise by outlining his IPL career numbers as Delhi eventually traded the veteran India opener.
“I think Ponting would himself admit he could have done better because the team we made, me, Ganguly…you won’t believe there were times we could think whom should we drop. There was no place for Ajinkya Rahane, Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, even Hetmyer. Then when we went to the auction…this was Ganguly who decided and I must praise him for that. He said we have to back the Indian players. He talked to Shikhar Dhawan, after which that trade had happened with Hyderabad,” Kaif said.
“Now we were stuck still thinking if we should make the trade, and it was Ganguly who convinced us that we needed him. Ponting did not agree. He felt his career was over, because it was right when he was dropped from the Test team. In fact, this thing was highlighted in the meeting that Dhawan is a trusted player who can score 500 runs in a season. David Warner was in Hyderabad, and I feel he must have influenced Ponting against going with Dhawan. I feel he must have told Ponting that he no longer remains a great player. But Ganguly and Parth Jindal backed Dhawan and traded him, and the India batter proved us right because we had reached the final that season where he scored a lot of runs. So I feel Ponting might have regretted that he would have done better because they did not win a trophy in those seven years. In fact, Ganguly should be credited for bringing Ashwin to the team as well.”
Dhawan, who returned to Delhi in 2019, having played for the franchise in the inaugural season, had a fabulous run in the Capitals. He scored 521 runs in 2019, 618 in 2020, the year Delhi had reached the final, and 587 in 2021 before he joined Punjab Kings.
‘I’m not a fan of that strategy’
Kaif speculated that Delhi parted ways with Ponting because they must have felt that the 49-year-old is no longer capable of coming up with title-winning gameplans.
“The franchise owner must have felt Ponting no longer had good game plans. Now, Ponting is a huge name. He is in that Sachin Tendulkar category. Now, if a franchise tells him ‘thank you so much’ and parts ways, that means they feel that he is looking flat with his game plans.”
Speaking on Ponting joining PBKS as the head coach, the veteran India batter criticised the Aussie of following the same footsteps as previous Punjab coaches of not trusting match-winners and being focused on having a bigger purse ahead of the auction.
“Now, he went to Punjab, and he followed the same tactic as the old coaches, retaining a few players and keeping a bigger purse. I felt they were wrong. Look at the Mumbai Indians. Despite finishing last, they retained their core players because they believed that they could still win a title. They backed the same players irrespective of their value. What Ponting did is the same as previous PBKS coaches and I’m not a fan of that. They could have retained Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone. See, there is no guarantee that a franchise can retain the same player at an auction for a lesser price,” he said.
