DC vs SRH: Ponting explains decision to drop Shaw, says 'lot of players with other teams are playing better'

Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting expected Prithvi Shaw to have a “big year” in IPL 2023 but feels that the out-of-form batter is not what the team needs “right now”. Shaw has only scored 47 runs in 6 IPL matches this season and was dropped by DC for their last game.

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“When he arrived this year, he’d been at the NCA for quite a few weeks working really hard on his fitness he turned up in good physical shape and his work ethic and training and everything in the nets suggested to me that this might be just that big year for him but that hasn’t worked out just yet,” Ponting said ahead of DC’s Saturday match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Ponting added that it was a tough decision to leave Shaw out of the team but it was made with DC’s best interests in mind.

“I think it’s 13 games (considering IPL 2022 as well) since Prithvi has made a 50 opening the batting for the Delhi capitals. There are a lot of other players at the top of the order with other teams that are playing a whole lot better than Prithvi,” Ponting added.

“Prithvi at his absolute best we know he’s a match winner. That’s one of the reasons that he’s a retained player because we know if he bats a certain amount of balls, we win about 95% of the games.

“But so far this season, he hasn’t been able to produce. I think the six games that he played was just over 40-odd runs, so that’s not what we require right now.

“So is it a tough decision to leave him out but hopefully the team that we put on the park tomorrow can go win another game for us.”

Ponting said that if Shaw gets another opportunity he is hopeful the batter will end IPL 2023 strongly.

“But saying that there’s a long way to go and if things don’t work out with our current top order, there’s no reason why he couldn’t be back in the team and hopefully can finish the tournament off really strongly.”

After five straight losses, DC are on a two-match winning streak but are still at the bottom of the table with four points from seven matches.

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