Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting has been going through a turbulent few days. After a family member tested positive for COVID-19, which forced him to isolate for five days, he had to endure the disappointment of watching his team go down against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a high-scoring encounter at the Wankhede Stadium.
What was worse was the fact that he had to watch his team battle it out on television instead of the sidelines, as he was deemed a close contact and had to join his family in isolation.
Ponting's family member was the latest in a series of COVID-19 cases being reported in the Delhi camp which also included two overseas cricketers — Mitchell Marsh and Tim Seifert.
Ponting described the experience of watching DC go down to RR in their last outing in IPL 2022 as "frustrating," adding that it can be especially tough for someone as connected to the team's fortunes as the head coach to not be at the heart of the action.
"It was frustrating. I think I broke three or four remote controls and a few bottles of water might have got thrown into the walls and things like that (laughs). When you're on the side-lines, being a coach and you can't control what's happening out in the middle, that's hard enough, but when you're not actually at the ground, it can get a little more frustrating," the former Australia captain was quoted as saying by the franchise.
The DC attack was smashed all over the park by Jos Buttler, who brought up his fourth century of the season as well as the highest individual score as he 115 propelled Rajasthan to an imposing 222/2. Delhi, in reply, stuttered after a solid opening stand by David Warner and Prithvi Shaw, and lost wickets at regular intervals thereafter. Captain Rishabh Pant (44) and Lalit Yadav (37) chipped in with vital contributions to keep Delhi's hopes alive.
The last over of the game, though, saw plenty of drama. Needing 36 to win off six balls, Rovman Powell struck a hat-trick of sixes off Obed McCoy from the first three deliveries, the third ball being a waist-high full-toss that wasn't called a no-ball, much to the chagrin of Pant and the rest of the Delhi dugout.
DC assistant coach Pravin Amre even stormed into the playing area, walking right up to the umpire to try and convince him to take it upstairs, and Pant was seen gesturing at his batters to head back to the dugout and stage a walkout.
The halt in proceedings worked against Delhi in the end as it appeared to have calmed McCoy's nerves and led to a loss in momentum for Powell, who could only collect two in the next two balls before being dismissed off the last delivery.
Delhi face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their next outing on Thursday, and with three wins in seven games, Pant and Co desperately need a victory to stay afloat in the race to the IPL playoffs. Coach Ponting sounded confident in his team's ability to put the COVID saga behind and stage a turnaround in the second half of the league stage.
"I know we're so close to turning it all around. We've all got to trust, we've got to believe, we've got to stay upbeat and positive. And if we are, things will definitely change for us. “The harder we try from here, the harder it's going to get. We're just going to stay nice and relax and keep repeating things we've been doing. And then results will definitely come our way. We are too good a team for the results not to change," added Ponting.
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